Forbes Africa - December 2021-January 2022

AFRICA
AFRICA
DECEMBER 2021 | JANUARY 2022
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RISE OF THE
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FORBES AFRICA
CONTENTS
• VOLUME 11 NUMBER 6
08 | EDITOR’S NOTE
Renuka Methil
10 | PUBLISHER’S NOTE
Rakesh Wahi
14 | LEADERBOARD
COVER STORY
32 | African Of The Year
Nana Akufo-Addo, Ghana’s President,
has repositioned the country in the global
marketplace as one reliant on its own
resources and strengths. He is redefining
economic development and it’s resonating
across Africa. In an exclusive interview
with FORBES AFRICA, he dwells on the
new focus of the West African nation that
has in recent years consistently been one of
the world’s fastest-growing economies.
By Peace Hyde
FOCUS
20 | Another Life-Saver
A vaccine that has taken almost three decades
to produce is finally ready to give hope to thou-
sands affected by malaria.
By Paula Slier and Sasha Star
24 | The Economy That

Never Sleeps
Where there is a township, there are hopes,
dreams and fortunes to be made. Where there
is a township, come rain or shine, Covid or
civil unrest, an entire community of small and
medium businesses will band together and
emerge from the ashes, resolutely, resiliently.
Where there is a township, hard work will
inevitably prevail over hardship. Presenting
the South African economy’s beating,
pulsating heart that never stops.
By Chanel Retief
58 | ‘I Haven’t Seen A Day Of

Peace In My Life’
Faced with an uncertain present, women and
girls in Afghanistan hope the new Taliban
regime will ease the restrictions on them
and that the international community will
intervene. For now, their only option is to stay
strong and reconcile their dreams with the
current reality.
By Paula Slier and Sasha Star
Cover and above image by Kelechi Amadi-Obi
FORBESAFRICA.COM DECEMBER 2021 | JANUARY 2022 FORBES AFRICA | 1

FORBES AFRICA
CONTENTS
ENTREPRENEURS HEALTH
40 | Sole Survivors 68 | The Community Platform
Tapping into Rwanda’s waste-to-wealth In vast and varied rural South Africa, Covid-19
economy, Ysolde Shimwe and Kevine Ka- vaccines are making their way to the people
girimpundu have come a long way in their by rail. The Transvaco train is a moving
eco-friendly shoes. They repurpose used vaccine station delivering virus protection to
tyres to make soles and have survived the communities beyond.
pandemic with their sustainable offerings By Yeshiel Panchia
opening yet another new store this year.
By Ridhima Shukla
LIFE
46 | Appetite For Business 74 | The Together Man In
Starting with just $45, Ghanaian entre-
preneur Violet Amoabeng’s startup has Regional Cinema
progressed with skincare products you At the cornerstone of contemporary Swahili
can eat and the unpalatable realization cinema, Tanzanian filmmaker Amil Shivji
that the only way to make it in business is adamant about telling stories of contrast
is to crash, break, stretch and succeed. and community and promoting local talent.
By Peace Hyde By Inaara Gangj
57 | A Billion For A Billion 76 | The Nollywood Actor

The future of the world is linked to the Living His Truth
future of Africa and this tech giant is Life has a way of imitating art. For Ifan
68
investing in it to enable startup successes. Ifeanyi Michael, it has been the other way
By Paula Slier and Sasha Star round. The Nigerian celebrity stylist, actor
and filmmaker has come a long way from
the destitute 10-year-old he once was.
By Peace Hyde
TECH
62 | Electric Dreams:
East Africa On The Move
Electric Vehicles (EV) are fast becoming
a mainstay of daily commutes around the
57
world. From battery-powered vehicles to
electric public buses, we are on the precipice
of a revolution in the automotive industry.
Africa is not excluded in this new movement
with burgeoning sectors looking to change
the way African cities move – and breathe!
FORBES AFRICA looks at how the EV
market is moving in East Africa.
By Marie Shabaya
64 | The Future In Motion

The six-month Expo 2020 bringing to-
gether 192 countries to Dubai that opened
on October 1 is exploring opportunities
for partnerships between Africa and the
Middle East. Get a load of barista bots that
88
make coffee and tell jokes, do calligraphy
or tai-chi, and ones that bring Beethoven’s SPORT
work to life through performance.
By Nafisa Akabor 86 | Game-Changer 88 | Making Every
As coach of the South Sudan Lap Count
women’s national football Swimming sensation Tatjana Schoenmaker,
66 | Out Of This World team, South African Shilene South Africa’s star at the Tokyo Olympics
Is the metaverse the future of the internet? Booysen is developing the who won record-breaking gold in the 200m
It’s already here with Big Tech banking game and making a difference breaststroke, is constantly challenging
on it, and it just might unlock untold eco- in the world’s youngest herself for the next milestone, she says in an
nomic opportunities for Africa. country. exclusive interview with FORBES AFRICA.
By Tiana Cline By Nick Said By Nick Said
2 | FORBES AFRICA DECEMBER 2021 | JANUARY 2022 FORBESAFRICA.COM

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CONTENTS
78 | Past Forward: African

Luxury Redefined
Jeunes créateurs, a concept that came about in Paris in the
1970s, seems to be upon us again, with the emergence of an
almost youthful, colorful and even playful flair in the way
designers seem to be creating now. The shift arrives just
in time for the festive season as luxe-lovers emerge out of
prolonged lockdown and quarantine modes. A handful of Af-
rican designers are catering to this newfound freedom with
elaborate, cutting-edge collections set to stir a fashion frenzy.
Compiled by Keabetswe Mafora
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AFRICA
DECEMBER 2021 | JANUARY 2022 • VOLUME 11 NUMBER 6
Chairman: Zafar Siddiqi

Founder & Publisher: Rakesh Wahi
Managing Director: Roberta Naicker
Executive Director: Sid Wahi
Non-Executive Director: Sam Bhembe
MANAGING EDITOR
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ART DIRECTOR
Lucy Nkosi
MULTIMEDIA JOURNALIST
Chanel Retief
PHOTOJOURNALIST
Yeshiel Panchia
JOURNALIST – WEST AFRICA

Peace Hyde
HEAD OF PRODUCTION
Sikona Cibini
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER – WEST AFRICA

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FORBES AFRICA
EDITOR’S NOTE
Are we seeing The Great Unlock yet?

The globe in its new masked-up incarnation is hard to rec-
ognize, the supply chains are only just revving up and countries
are still teetering on the edge with bated breath and cautious
optimism for the stirrings of a full economic recovery.
The same can be said about the climate change dialogue
heating up across the world and that 2021 bore full witness to
in addition to the other two Cs that continued to hog headlines:
Covid-19 and cryptocurrencies.
With the new battle cries for social distancing and bringing
temperatures down, we also concomitantly entered a new era
of money-making, a trend we will no doubt pony up our plans
to focus more on in the new year on all our platforms – from
cryptos to the metaverse’s immersive internet, VR and NFTs.
This we will do with content that will inform – and perhaps
even make you richer.
ARE WE Indeed, it’s an exciting time to be a reporter unearthing new

meanings in everything that’s changing at Pentium processor
SEEING
speed. We will keep learning and refocusing our mandate to
provide news on pockets and profits that matter.
But not just that, to also focus on what can be better.
THE GREAT A fitting example is our story on the grit, growth and gump-
tion of South Africa’s township economies rising from the
UNLOCK YET?
embers of Covid-19 and the civic unrest that shook the entrails
of its being this year.
The moonlighters, hustlers and involuntary entrepreneurs
that emerged from the cracks deserve mention too as they
T
ploughed on in ways that kept the value chains alive.
2022 is at our door, and she already has an inkling of what
HE LAST TWO YEARS WERE AKIN TO BEING she is bearing for us, but she won’t tell just yet. But one thing
enrolled into a master’s program, unlearning and we know: that she holds new promise, and perhaps a kinder
learning together with our human cohorts in a touch, as hopefully, it can only get better from now.
new global Covid-19-induced university featuring Happy 2022, everyone!
unwieldy textbooks and sleepless, bleary-eyed nights.
Some of the new subjects on the program? Agility, adaptability and
empathy, and new, humane ways to communicate to a workforce
post layoffs and lockdowns, even as the office of the future was being
constructed.
As one of the entrepreneurs in this edition says about the
new mantra for his business: “Our mission is to keep com- RENUKA METHIL,
MANAGING EDITOR
merce human.”
Photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla
It’s a brave new world that we have entered and 2022 will letters@abn360.com
cap a period in history that came without a textbook preamble. editor@forbesafrica.com
www.forbesafrica.com
It’s almost like we developed a new muscle or new neuron
pathways to comprehend the changing semantics of a new
world order.
Views expressed by commentators in this publication are not necessarily those held by FORBES AFRICA or its members of staff. All facts printed in FORBES AFRICA were confirmed as being
correct at the time of going to press. Note: Dollar prices in the magazine are approximate figures and based on exchange rates at the time of going to press.

Thoughts, Lessons And
The Mindset Change
For The Future
BY RAKESH WAHI, FOUNDER AND PUBLISHER, FORBES AFRICA
A
FTER ALMOST
19 months, I was
finally able to
return to our home
in Johannesburg. It
seemed like eternity
that we were away but something about
reaching South Africa fills our family
with warmth, which is no different
from when we reach home in Dubai
or Delhi. Johannesburg has been
home for 17 years almost to the
month. As we disembarked from the
plane, we found the travelator at the
airport was not working – the most
likely culprit the power outages one
is now increasingly accustomed to
in South Africa. There was a lady
walking with us and in typical South
African style, she said: “Eish, it’s Rakesh Wahi
great to be back home, nothing has
changed.” My wife and I looked at
each other and had tears in our eyes that no one could over the last 17 years memorable. Covid has changed
empathize with, and it wasn’t the power outage. It was our lives and while delivering my speech last month
just good to be back home. on the move to our new university campus from East
There were many reasons for coming back; the most Legon to Tantra Hill in Ghana, I made the point that
obvious one being able to meet our team at the office our world will now be defined by two eras: Before
after so long. However, this has been a very reflective Covid (BC) and After Covid (AC). There is absolutely
period for me personally and one of my main goals was to no doubt in anyone’s mind that our lives will be
connect with all our friends who have made this journey changed irreversibly, and every dimension of our daily

FORBES AFRICA
REFLECTIONS
life is impacted by change that has been catalyzed by this age of internet via satellite is back with a vengeance and
horrific act of nature that has impacted all of us. I had with current and future compression technologies, the
made several observations in my columns in FORBES speed of communications will continue to get faster and
AFRICA over the last 18 months on the need for change faster. Radio spectrum utilization will become a larger
in behavior and for human beings to think more clearly part of the next 100 years and my limited understanding
and prioritize once this cloud has lifted. We are going of using frequencies was limited to devices and
through a period of metamorphosis and for once our technologies using Super Low, Ultra Low, Low, Medium,
leaders can make choices for the future that will make High and Ultra High frequencies; these ranged from
this world hopefully a better place for future generations. 30Hz to 3000MHz. The future now is in applications
Travel has restarted and we have made some trips from 300MHz to 3000GHz going from Super High to
over the last few months and can say with a reasonable Tremendously High frequencies. Without getting any
amount of confidence that traveling is being managed more technical, the applications using these frequencies
extremely well by airlines and the associated support are going to change our world in biometrics, medicine
organizations at airports. Hotels have transformed to and so many other areas of human interface. Then is the
Covid protocols and are taking extreme care to ensure future of space; an area that is wide open and can only be
that proper sanitization is being carried out for the limited by the imagination of my generation.
wellbeing of guests. An Generational change in thinking about investments
important milestone has and asset classes is going through structural change.
been the increase in the My father always advised us about the value of land,
number of vaccinations gold and fixed deposits in government securities; it was
The worst mistake and the requirement progressive thinking from my grandfather’s generation in
to carry a vaccination the 1910 and 1920 period where cash and gold were kept
any leader can certificate while under the proverbial mattress. People didn’t travel much,
make is revel in traveling. There is a long and banking was primitive. Local banking transactions
past glory, live in journey ahead to get across cities was a challenge and cheque credits could
everyone vaccinated in take weeks. Foreign transactions and remittances were
denial and become the world and to educate few and far between and this was just a few decades
complacent about against vaccination ago. There were no credit cards and the only secure
hesitancy wherever it mode of foreign exchange for a long time were travelers’
the future. exists. This pandemic is cheques. The capital markets came about in 1602 with
not over by any stretch of the Dutch East India Company being the first traded
imagination, but we have stock and despite the New York Stock Exchange being
found a way to navigate while the healthcare industry officially launched in 1817, the real market growth really
finds the silver bullet to end this nightmare. came about in the last century but the era of trillion-
Some events have been defining moments in the dollar companies has just started. And so has the era of
last two years that will have a major impact on the cryptocurrencies. No surprise with generational change
future. I will not talk about innovation or disruption in when my son told me that fixed deposits, gold and all
conventional industries but rather things that I can only conventional safe havens including the US Dollar are of
dream about after speaking to the younger generation. the past and that along with his peers they see a distinct
Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies seem to shift towards the world of digital assets. So, while my
be here to stay bringing about a quantum change in generation is happy with electronic wallets on our cell
processes that will bring global standardization at a scale phone, this segment is going to radically change; we
that we cannot even imagine today. The crypto market saw sectional real estate ownership and now we must
capitalization stands at $3 trillion as I write this article. I embrace sectional currency. Bonds are for The Boomers,
can see a global identity card at some stage in the future; stocks for Generation X and crypto for the Millennials.
this is not an original thought, and a Brazilian group has We were impressed with the concept of millionaires
already started the Global Identity Organization; can one and then billionaires; the threshold of net worth of
even imagine the transparency and uniformity this will $100 billion by individuals has been surpassed by 10
bring in dealing with each other across the world. The individuals in 2021; nine are from the USA and one from

FORBES AFRICA
REFLECTIONS
France. The tech sector has produced more unicorns consensus in 1977 (30 years after India’s independence
than any other and at a mind-boggling speed. What from British rule), there was a long era of coalition
are we to expect in the future and if the future wealth governments, the most successful of which was the
generation, including in Africa, will come from the Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance from 1999 to 2004.
technology space, then we need to believe in the rapid Sadly, the Congress is today the sinking ship of Indian
transmutation of our species? I use the word mutation politics. There is no better lesson in political history
now as this evolution is not the physical dimension than this to learn from.
but the radical change in mindset of the future The ANC has had a run for 27 years, but the
generations. Crypto currencies are the bullock carts recent municipal elections have shown that the party
of future generations; extrapolate this into the next is gradually losing its shine. The reasons are self-
100 years and I do not believe there will be space in explanatory, and the proverbial writing is on the wall.
the graph for the compounding exponential growth in The cracks have formed, and the implosion is slowly
innovation and disruption. but surely progressing. The people of South Africa are
The only area that will perhaps follow the not happy with the governance of the state and will
time-tested path of slow transformation is our continue to voice their dissatisfaction through the
political system, particularly in ballot. There is a lot of confusion
South Africa. In 2008, I had a in people’s minds about loyalty to
conversation with several senior the past or embracing what is right.
friends in the African National The lower voter turnout evidences
Congress (ANC). I talked about the fact that people would rather
the evolution of the Congress Generational not vote against the ANC and give
party in India and the likely their leaders a chance to correct
similarity in the journey of
change in thinking the course for progress. In the
the Indian National Congress about investments meantime, the era of coalitions has
and the ANC. I had a similar and asset classes arrived and so has the emergence
conversation at a private equity of new political parties that will
conference in Stellenbosch is going through provide the governance needed to
in Cape Town the same year. structural change. take this great nation forward.
There was general disbelief that The new political parties are
a political system like the ANC all led by former members of the
could ever be unseated. A decade ANC who have chosen to move
later, the Congress in India was away from the status quo and bring
almost annihilated in the 2019 elections when the accountability to the existing government. Some of
party failed to secure 10% in parliament. It took 72 these parties have outstanding leaders who have the
years of dynasty politics for the party to be completely potential to provide leadership to the country in the
routed through implosion. Although India is a not-so-distant future. The worst mistake any leader
complex country and much larger, the two countries can make is revel in past glory, live in denial and
share a similar history of struggle and consequent become complacent about the future.
freedom. Covid has taught us many lessons; the most
For a country to be a true democracy, it must have important being humility. It’s time to recognize our
multiple parties to provide checks and balances. The failings and prepare for a future that redefines purpose
political landscape in India changed to a few national and embraces accountability along with the old-
parties and strong state-level parties; an important fashioned value of integrity that seems to have lost its
factor today are the alliances and coalitions in states way. As we move to 2022, with another year that has
that provide a national consensus for the ruling party swiftly passed us by, I wish you all a very happy and
in parliament. After the Congress party lost national prosperous 2022 and pray that you all remain safe.

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WHAT’S
NEW
FRONTRUNNER WHO’S
NEXT
More Screen
Time This Xmas
S
TREAMING GIANT NETFLIX WILL is always ruining Christmas. But I think we find that in
keep its date with the holidays with a much- this season, even though we still blame her, it’s not really
anticipated Season 2 sequel to the original hit her fault. I am trying to not say too much,” Thabethe
African series, How To Ruin Christmas. laughs about the comedy that has since Season 1 played
Reprising her role as Beauty Sello is South African on key themes such as family, tradition and modernity in
actor and radio DJ, Thando Thabethe (pictured), who was the South African context.
also FORBES AFRICA’s 30 Under 30 list-maker in 2019. “I think the one thing about this show that makes it so
This year too, the series comes with its share of high different is in as much as it’s a comedy, it’s sort of rooted
Photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla
jinks but also with a funeral thrown in for good measure. in truth and rooted in drama,” Thabethe says. “Because
In an interview with FORBES AFRICA, Thabethe people are multifaceted. We are many things that I think
reveals more about the plot, and how it will be different this one show [portrays]. We are not slapstick comedy but
from the first series, which centered around a wedding. what this show does is that you can laugh at your own pain
“There’s a lot of difference but there’s also a lot of the and laugh at your own hurt. And I think with the difficult
same, I mean, it’s still How To Ruin Christmas. So still a times the whole world is going through right now, [in] this
lot of drama with regards to family,” Thabethe says. season, we’ll hit a nerve. But in a good way.”
“My character is now married. And so she sees a
whole different obstacle in this season. The season also [is – For full interview, go to www.forbesafrica.com
a] sort of redemption for her. She seems like the one who
FORBES AFRICA
LEADERBOARD
WHAT WAS TRENDING Civil unrest in Eswatini

A series of ongoing protests gripped
the landlocked southern African
IN AFRICA IN 2021? kingdom of Eswatini in recent
months. Al Jazeera reported on
October 22 that authorities in
Covid-19 still dominated the conversation board Eswatini banned protests following
this year, but a number of events, protests and the latest wave of pro-democracy
demonstrations in the kingdom. The unrest also
coups that rocked Africa also got the world reportedly escalated as nurses refused to treat police
talking and social media aflutter. officers. The country also suspended Facebook access
and shut down schools indefinitely as months of
pro-democracy protests came to a head. Deaths and
injuries were also reported.
Guinea
Forbes reported in September that the Worldwide social media outages
special forces unit of the Guinea Armed Tens of thousands of Facebook users worldwide experienced
Forces detained the country’s long-serving outages in the beginning of October, as also users of the
President Alpha Conde “in an apparent tech giant’s other major social media platforms, Instagram,
coup”. Unrest in the world’s third-largest WhatsApp and Messenger.
producer of bauxite pushed aluminum prices
to the highest level in over a decade.
Prices of the metal in the London Metal Exchange climbed 1.8% #PrayForEthiopia
to $2,775.50 per ton — the highest it has been since May 2011. In BBC News reported in November that
China, the aluminum futures jumped up nearly 3.5% to around Tigray's rebel forces now “have the
$3,400 (CNY 21,970) — the highest it has been since 2006 — before upper hand in the war that erupted a
leveling off at around 2.3%. year ago in northern Ethiopia”. What
started the war in November 2020 was a
military conflict. CNN reported the conflict
South Africa #Elections2021 broke out due to Tigray People’s Liberation
At the beginning of November, millions of South Front’s unilateral decision to elect a regional administration
Africans took to their nearest polling stations against Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s wishes.
to cast their votes for the local government “Our operation aims to end the impunity that has prevailed
elections. Although 26.2 million people had for far too long and hold accountable individuals and groups
registered for the polls, the elections recorded
under the laws of the land,” Abiy said on Twitter. This
reportedly the lowest voter turnout since South
reportedly has resulted in heavy casualties and thousands of
Africa became a democracy. Reports are that only a
little over 12 million cast their ballots. civilians fleeing the region.
The Independent Electoral Commission finalized the outcome of the vote
on November 4, with the number of hung councils more than double the
number of the 2016 local government elections. A hung council refers to
Riots and looting scar
when no party has won the majority of the seats therefore making the South Africa
parties with the most votes or seats the key decision-makers also known Just a day after addressing the nation about
as a coalition municipality. strengthened Covid-19 lockdown restrictions
on July 12, South African president Cyril
Ramaphosa was back on TV screens
again “with a heavy heart”, this time on the
Sudan’s military coup government’s response to the public violence and
At the end of October, Al Jazeera reported unrest ravaging parts of the country.
that security forces in Sudan have arrested The vandalism, looting, riots, “political protests” and “anarchy” over
that dark period led to the army being called in to “protect property
Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and
and safeguard social and economic infrastructure”, as the president
several other members of the country’s
stated in his address.
civilian leadership. The military coup led to The protests, sparked by the arrest of South Africa’s former
thousands protesting the arrests as well as the president Jacob Zuma for contempt of court, began in KwaZulu-
World Bank suspending aid to the country. Natal (KZN), Zuma’s homestead, where he was incarcerated at
The day after the coup, the military allowed Hamdok and the Estcourt Correctional Centre. The civil unrest saw multiple
his wife to return to their home in the Sudanese capital of businesses, buildings and properties destroyed during the week
Khartoum, after he was detained in a top military leader’s house, of destruction. The protests continued in Gauteng, South Africa’s
according to Forbes. economic hub, in places such as Soweto, Jeppestown and Alexandra.

CAPE TOWN AUTHOR’S GLOBAL ECONOMIC SLUMP
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is lowering its
BOOKER ‘FOR AFRICA’ global growth projection for 2021 slightly to 5.9% while
Damon Galgut’s novel, The Promise, was keeping it unchanged for 2022 at 4.9%. In the IMFs World
awarded the prestigious Booker Prize for 2021 in Economic Outlook released in October, this modest headline
November. Galgut was shortlisted in September revision masks large downgrades for some countries.
but this was not the first time he had been “The global recovery continues, but momentum has
considered for the prize: his previous novels The weakened, hobbled by the pandemic.…The divergences
Good Doctor, and In a Strange Room, also landed in growth prospects across countries, however, persist
and remains a major concern,” said Gita Gopinath,
him on the shortlist.
Economic Counsellor and Director of the Research
“The original idea came from a conversation with Department at the IMF.
a friend, who’s the last surviving member of his “One of the major risks remains that there could be
family,” Galgut said, according to The Booker Prize. new variants of the virus that could further slow back the
"I'd like to accept this on behalf of all the stories recovery. We're seeing major supply disruptions around
told and untold, the writers heard and unheard, the world that are also feeding inflationary pressures,
from the remarkable continent I'm part of. Please which are quite high and financial risk taking also is
keep listening to us, there's a lot more to come,” increasing, which poses an additional risk to the outlook,”
Galgut said in his acceptance speech. explained Gopinath.
SOUTH AFRICA’S OSCAR SUBMISSION

Barakat, directed by Amy Jephta, is South Africa’s official
submission for Best International Feature at the 94th
Academy Awards in 2022. The film follows Muslim
widow Aisha Davids as she tries to bring together
her fractured family over Eid-al-Fitr to break the
news about her new romance. South African Film
and Television Award (SAFTA) nominee Vinette
Ebrahim stars as the ageing matriarch. Barakat is
told in Afrikaaps, the widely spoken Cape dialect of the
Afrikaans language. The first Afrikaaps dictionary is currently in
development, after being announced earlier this year.
EGYPTIAN FEMALE FOOTBALL TEAM LEAP AHEAD

Wadi Degla, the Egyptian women’s football team, made history by THE $237.5 MILLION BOEING SETTLEMENT
winning the first-ever group match in the inaugural Women's African US plane manufacturer Boeing’s board of directors agreed in November
Champions League after beating Malians AS Mande 3-1 in Cairo. to pay the company millions of dollars and impose new safety
According to BBC News, the Egyptians “made the perfect start measures. According to Forbes, this will close out a lawsuit brought
on home soil when Hayam Abdelhafez was brought down inside the by Boeing shareholders following the fatal Boeing 737 Max crash in
box by Salimata Kone inside the opening 50 seconds”. Indonesia in October 2018 and the crash of the same aircraft in Ethiopia
The Women's African Champions League was created in 2020 in March 2019. Both accidents, which saw 346 fatalities, were blamed
by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The tournament on a faulty addition to the flight control system that hinged on a single
involved eight teams from November 5 and ended on November 19. sensor, causing the planes to pitch downward. As part of the settlement,
"There are many hidden talents in Africa and this will be a bigger members of Boeing’s board of directors agreed to pay $237.5 million
platform to showcase the talent," Enez Mango of Kenyan side Vihiga directly to the company — a sum that will come from the directors’
Queens told BBC Sport Africa. insurers, according to Forbes.
ACT ON ESG OR LOSE on ESG issues makes it likely they would vote
A report conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers against an executive pay agreement, while fully
(PwC) found that environmental, social and a third say they have already taken this action.
governance (ESG) factors increasingly drive • A large majority, 79%, say the way a
investment strategies. In the PwC 2021 Global company manages ESG risks and opportunities
Investor ESG Survey, research found that ESG is an important factor in their investment
has now become a make-or-break consideration decision making.
for leading investors globally. • The vast majority, 81%, said they would
• Almost half of investors surveyed, 49%, accept no more than one percentage point less
express willingness to divest from companies in investment returns for pursuit of ESG goals;
that aren’t taking sufficient action on ESG issues. nearly half, (49%), were unwilling to accept any
• More than half, 59%, also say lack of action reduction in returns.
– Compiled by Chanel Retief

FORBES AFRICA
LEADERBOARD
Financing Mental Health:

NEW TECH TOOL TO TREAT DEPRESSION
Photo by Wolfgang Kumm/picture alliance via Getty Images; Photo by Matt Petit - Handout/A.M.P.A.S. via Getty Images; Photo by David Levenson/Getty Images; Photo by GUILLEM SARTORIO/AFP via
S
OUTH AFRICAN RESEARCHERS ARE NOW
Getty Images; Photo by Getty Images; Photos by -/AFP via Getty Images; Photo by Darren Stewart/Gallo Images via Getty Images; Photo by JOHN WESSELS/AFP via Getty Images
developing an innovative, validated online tool to help

people recognize and seek treatment for depression and
mental health issues.
PhD candidate Tasneem Hassem of the University of the
Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, along with co-founder
Professor Sumaya Laher, have been awarded almost $7,000
in seed funding to further develop and commercialize
the tool, aimed at allowing users to more easily recognize
and obtain treatment for depression, particularly within
the South African context, where low mental health
awareness and access to mental health services can still be
a challenge.
“Unfortunately, low awareness of the symptoms of
depression means that many people do not know when
they are depressed. During our research and through
interviews with stakeholders, we determined that an
online screening tool would help raise awareness of
depression, reduce the stigma and facilitate quality
conversations between people and health professionals”
says Hassem to FORBES AFRICA.
According to a recent report in The Lancet which
assessed the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on mental
health in 204 countries, anxiety and depressive disorders
focus of Hassem’s research and piloting of the app, with the
increased by some 25% across the countries sampled, with
guidance of healthcare professionals.
South Africa seeing one of the highest rates of increase
The tool’s development funding comes through the University
worldwide.
of the Witwatersrand’s Prospector course which aims to foster
“The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic has created
and develop promising entrepreneurial ideas in research – with
an environment where many determinants of poor mental
Hassem’s proposal securing funding over seven other proposals,
health are exacerbated,” the study continued.
with the project being of possibly high value in South Africa,
This is confirmed in the South African context by the
where mental health resources are extremely limited, with
South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG), a
some four mental health spaces per 100,000 members of the
mental health services and advocacy organization.
population, and just 0.97 psychologists for the same number.
“We know that the mental health impact during Covid
“What is exciting in this instance is that the tool developed by
has been immense – we’ve seen that at SADAG,” says
Ms Hassem and Prof Laher has significant potential to support
Cassey Chambers, SADAG’s operations coordinator, to
our communities in an illness that is prevalent, yet difficult
FORBES AFRICA.
to diagnose and treat not least because of the unfortunate
“Just from January this year, we received over 466,000
stigma associated with it. Innovation must meet the real needs
calls to our helplines. One in every five calls is a suicide-
of our citizens, and it’s not just about profits,” comments Ela
related issue. And that’s still a conservative figure. Our
Romanowska, Director of Innovation Support at Wits Enterprise,
call volumes from pre-Covid [to this year] has increased
which supports the initiative.
by 160%. Covid has definitely impacted mental health, it’s
“Our tool is specifically adapted to capture the unique
definitely added to more depression, more anxiety, added
depression symptoms experienced by South African individuals.
to people’s mental health issues… Covid has definitely
The user receives instant, downloadable feedback that provides
increased the mental health impact.”
resources for seeking treatment or care and can be used in the
Ensuring mental health tools are relevant to the context
comfort of one’s home, on any smartphone, tablet, laptop or
and location in which they will be used is a crucial part of
computer,” explains Hassem.
ethical and successful interventions, which was a critical
– Yeshiel Panchia

FORBES AFRICA
FOCUS | MALARIA
Another Life-Saver
A vaccine that has taken almost three
decades to produce is finally ready to give
hope to thousands affected by malaria.
BY PAULA SLIER AND SASHA STAR
N
Dr Mary
Hamel
O ONE COULD HAVE PREDICTED THAT THE

last 18 months would have been defined by a virus that
caused the world to quite literally shut down.
As the infection rate rose by the hour, talk turned to
vaccines and scientists raced to create an agent that would provide
the global population with a chance of survival. With the number of
fatalities increasing, it seemed as though the immunity-boosting serum
could not come quick enough.
We have not seen progress in
It took less than a year for the Covid-19 vaccine to be developed, Africa against malaria with
with more than half of the world’s citizens having already received 260,000 children still dying
at least one dose. Now, a completely different vaccine, which has
taken almost three decades to produce, is finally ready to give hope to every year.
hundreds of thousands of people affected by another deadly illness.
For the very first time, the World Health Organization (WHO) has
endorsed a vaccine to fight malaria — a disease that claims the lives of to be infected by the disease without displaying symptoms.
400,000 people annually. Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, is set to meet in December to discuss
“We’ve reached a point where [the death rate] has plateaued for the the roll-out of the jabs in low-income countries. These countries will
last six years, but we have not seen progress in Africa against malaria then be expected to apply for funding to introduce the vaccine as part
with 260,000 children still dying every year. It’s just unacceptable,” of their healthcare system to ensure that children receive the required
says Dr Mary Hamel, the team lead for the WHO’s Malaria Vaccine four doses between the ages of five- and 17-months.
Implementation Program. “When I initially went to Kenya as a young doctor in 1995,” Hamel
A pilot initiative in Ghana, Malawi and Kenya that began in 2019 recalls, “the first thing I was asked by the village elders is, ‘when are we
showed that RTS,S/AS01, under the brand name Mosquirix, has the going to get a vaccine’? People trust vaccines, people know they save
ability to reduce the risk of severe malaria by up to 40%. lives. And everyone has felt the pain of malaria. Everyone, including me,
The GlaxoSmithKline-manufactured drug does so by targeting the knows somebody close to them who has lost a child from malaria.”
malaria parasite during the brief time that it exposes itself to the body’s While the introduction of a vaccine after so many years is a clear
immune system. sign of progress, Raman has warned that regular preventative protocols
“Trying to develop a vaccine for a parasite is a lot more complex like bed nets still need to be followed.
than for a virus,” explains Dr Jaishree Raman who heads the “This is not the silver bullet, it’s just an additional tool. And if people
Antimalarial Resistance Monitoring Unit at South Africa’s National start feeling sick, they need to get treatment as soon as possible.”
Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD). Living through a pandemic for the past year-and-a-half has been
“Malaria parasites either hide in a red blood cell or in liver cells, so traumatic for a number of reasons, but one good thing has come from it,
there’s a very short period in which a vaccine can attack it.” in Hamel’s opinion.
The effects of malaria are not pleasant. Fever, vomiting and “I think we’ve learned from Covid and the Covid vaccine that if the
Photo supplied
fatigue are common, while the worst cases result in fatalities. The international community comes together, we can make things happen.
majority of children who grow up in high-risk areas will contract We can make sure that supply is increased, and that people are reached
malaria once a month until they build up enough partial immunity with a life-saving intervention.”

BRANDVOICE BY MOËT HENNESSY
FIVE MINUTES WITH…

AIMEE KELLEN,
REGIONAL MARKETING MANAGER AFRICA
& MIDDLE EAST FOR MOËT HENNESSY
This year, Moët & Chandon celebrated Champagne Day with a

glamorous Grand ‘Toast to Today’, please tell us more.
Isn’t it humbling to imagine that Moët & Chandon has been associ-
ated with celebration for nearly three centuries? Moët & Chandon
has always had the power to unite people in celebration. This year,
a coordinated Moët & Chandon experience brought together guests
across 10 cities throughout Africa, Israel and Dubai, culminating in a
Grand Toast to Today at 17:43 on Friday 22 October, a celebration in
true Moët & Chandon style.
The concept of a Moët & Chandon Grand ‘Toast to Today’ seems

especially relevant to our time. Could you elaborate?
Events of the recent past have highlighted the importance of ac-
knowledging our daily triumphs, meaningful moments, successes, reminder to all in attendance of the importance of acknowledging
family and friends – as often as possible. Too often we are so focused personal moments of joy or success daily and allowing for a true
on life’s major milestones that moments we should be acknowl- sense of unity with others throughout Africa and the Middle East.
edging every day can just pass us by. This experience served as a
powerful reminder to celebrate what we have, whilst sharing the Moët & Chandon originates from Epernay in the heart of
magic of champagne using the hashtag #ToastWithMoet. the Champagne region - there is a real sense of history and
tradition associated with champagne.
And this collective Grand Toast took place at the same time Yes indeed, Moët & Chandon is the Maison that contributed to in-
throughout Africa and the Middle East on Champagne Day. troducing champagne to the world by offering a range of wines for
Why at 17:43? every occasion. Moët & Chandon reflects the diversity of the three
We hope that this year’s Moët & Chandon Champagne Day main grape varieties of the champagne region: the body of Pinot
experiences spoke to Moët & Chandon's generosity, grandeur and Noir, the suppleness of Meunier, and the finesse of Chardonnay.
savoir-fête (which means the art of knowing how to celebrate). So The Maison, globally revered for its savoir-faire, its historical
we created a collective moment of celebration, asking guests across know-how and state-of-the-art technology – shares the magic of
all 10 cities, from Lagos to Nairobi to Tel Aviv and Johannesburg to champagne with the world through unforgettable effervescent
join a Grand ‘Toast to Today’. 17:43 was chosen in homage to the experiences, attended worldwide by iconic Friends of the House.
year this iconic Maison was founded. In recognition of the idea of
‘Toasting to Today’, we created a customised ‘Wall of Toasts’. Guests What is the golden thread that united the Moët & Chandon
enjoyed recalling a personal moment they felt thankful for on their experiences globally?
notecard (sealing it with a red wax seal) and adding it to the wall. A At the heart of festive celebration is one champagne, Moët &
Chandon Impérial, the very symbol of the House’s renowned
savoir-fête. Effervescence is a distinctive feature of the delicate
blend that Benoît Gouez, Cellar Master of Moët & Chandon, cre-
ates. And it’s the effervescence of his champagnes that forms the
golden thread of Moët & Chandon celebrations around the world.
What’s next on the festive calendar?

Moët & Chandon once again brings its legendary savoir-fête to the
world – a new chapter in the House’s long history of generosity.
Moët & Chandon will flow in over 20 cities this festive season
including Sydney, Hong Kong, London, Milan, Madrid, Amster-
dam, Moscow, New York, Paris and Mexico City. In South Africa,
a Moët & Chandon Golden Tree was revealed Johannesburg, lov-
ingly referred to as the City of Gold. The Moët & Chandon Golden
Tree is set to become an iconic festive symbol, finding its home in
Sandton’s Nelson Mandela Square until the 3rd of January 2022.
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Fore more information, visit us at Rwanda Development Board, KG 220 St, Kigali or
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RDBrwanda RDBrwanda info@rdb.rw www.rdb.rw

The Economy
That Never Sleeps
WHERE THERE IS A TOWNSHIP, THERE ARE HOPES, DREAMS AND FORTUNES TO BE
MADE. WHERE THERE IS A TOWNSHIP, COME RAIN OR SHINE, COVID OR CIVIL UNREST, AN
ENTIRE COMMUNITY OF SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESSES WILL BAND TOGETHER AND
EMERGE FROM THE ASHES, RESOLUTELY, RESILIENTLY. WHERE THERE IS A TOWNSHIP,
HARD WORK WILL INEVITABLY PREVAIL OVER HARDSHIP. PRESENTING THE SOUTH
AFRICAN ECONOMY’S BEATING, PULSATING HEART THAT NEVER STOPS. BY CHANEL RETIEF

FORBES AFRICA
FOCUS | TOWNSHIP ECONOMIES
A
T EXACTLY 10AM ON JULY 12, A COLD MONDAY me. Have you ever watched as people just come into your place and
winter’s morning in Johannesburg, Ntombi Tyesi take all your stuff? That is exactly what I had to do – watch as people
answered a frantic call from her security services company took my furniture, my equipment, my stock, everything!”
alerting her about alarms going off at her restaurant in the Elsewhere in the country, thousands of similar heart-breaking
sprawling township of Soweto. scenarios unfolded, as civil unrest and anarchy gripped the nation
As owner of The People’s Republic, a small pub and grill eatery in eventually leading to over 200 dead, many more beaten and broken,
the heart of Soweto, located in front of the normally-bustling Maponya coupled with the arbitrary looting of businesses and rampant
Mall, Tyesi was shocked. destruction of properties across the country. Over 3,000 people were
South Africa was on strict lockdown with Covid-19 numbers rising arrested during this turbulent period in South African history.
adamantly and a deadly Delta variant on the prowl, and her restaurant Tyesi was but one example from a large contingent of small and
had been shut, just like most retail establishments forced to comply medium businesses that took the biggest hit, especially in the townships
with government regulations. in two of South Africa’s most pertinent provinces and economies;
Confused, she requested the security company to go on site to assess KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and Gauteng.
what may have triggered the alarms. The unrest was precipitated by a series of factors set off by the
“They called me and told me that they were running for their incarceration in KZN of the country’s former president, Jacob
lives,” Tyesi recalls the horror of the day in an interview with FORBES Zuma, on July 7. Zuma loyalists demanded his release from prison
AFRICA. “They said the [people] were throwing bricks and stones at immediately. As the riots and protests grew, so did the vehemence of
the pub and now, because they were trying to get through, [they were the “opportunistic criminals”, as President Cyril Ramaphosa put it in
hurling them] at their car as well.” his nationwide address, and crucially, also the poor and desperate who
Shaking with trepidation, Tyesi took the 15-minute drive from home used the chance to loot from shops and establishments in an economy
in Pineville to The People’s Republic, a magnet for food-lovers not so already hurt by the Covid-19 pandemic and reeking of unemployment.
long ago, now filled with strangers blatantly stealing from her. “This will have lasting effects on our ability to consolidate some of
“They took everything! They did not even hesitate when they saw the progress we were already witnessing in our economic recovery,”
Members of Inanda community cleaning up the looted

Dube Village Mall in a Durban township after the riots that
rocked South Africa in July 2021

FORBES AFRICA
Ramaphosa said in a televized address on July 12 about the development and is a key source of employment, goods and services for
unrest, barely 24 hours after placing the country on an adjusted the lower-income groups.
level 4 of the lockdown. “The informal sector’s contribution to the GDP of South Africa
The attack on Tyesi’s beloved business, which she launched was estimated at 6% in 2017; while the Quarterly Labour Force Survey
only months ago in December 2020, became more and more shows that 18.3% of employed persons were in the informal sector and
violent despite her screaming: “I am the owner of this place! 30% in informal employment during Q3: 2019,” the report read.
I am the black woman that owns this place!” Her cries were The 2021 South African Township Marketing Report further found
drowned by the din of destruction. One of her loyal customers, a that spaza shops – southern African slang for a small informal shop
taxi driver, was witness and tried to intervene. or corner store in a township – contribute 5.2% to South Africa’s GDP,
“He had a gun and he fired some shots in the air to try and employing 2.6 million people.
scare them off,” Tyesi says. “That made things worse because If there was an economic divide that existed in the informal
they started to throw stuff at him.” sector before, Covid-19 only exacerbated that further. And then the
devastating July unrest set back all impending recovery plans.
Dr Thami Mazwai, chairman of Mtiya Dynamics, which specializes
in enterprise and supplier development, says that is a lot riding on the
country’s current recovery plan in mitigating the issues it’s faced with.
Because those are the ones really “Well, I mean, the bulk of the people stay in the townships, the
that were excluded in many business rural areas, and the informal settlements...” Mazwai says to FORBES
opportunities in our past. And we AFRICA. “When you talk of economic development, the concept of
mutual exclusivity does not exist. Because the issues, in the long run,
have a conscious view, that we are just going to get integrated because we just have one economy.”
prioritize those designated groups Before the unrest, South Africa’s Small Enterprise Finance Agency
(SEFA) had already approved loans to the value of R1.4 billion ($90
that have to be actually involved in million) in the 2019/2020 financial year, providing financial assistance
the mainstreaming of the economy. to more than 74,000 small businesses.
The figures are contained in SEFA’s Annual Report of 2019/2020,
So the center really for intervention is which also notes that this loan book activity is a 99% increase on the
financial inclusion. previous financial year (R703 million/$45 million) and saw more than
– SEFA CEO, Mxolisi Matshamba 87,000 jobs being facilitated.
“Currently, the core for us is to bridge that gap of addressing
a market failure; it’s to drive vigorously that element of financial
Distressed and desperate, Tyesi went to Kliptown police inclusion because we prioritize the main businesses that are
station and that proved even more futile as the officer there told predominantly or mainly owned by black or previously-disadvantaged
her: “The whole of Soweto is in chaos, we can’t assist you right individuals,” SEFA CEO, Mxolisi Matshamba, says to FORBES
now. Just stay away from there or you will be in danger.” AFRICA.
“I felt so helpless because the police failed me, the security “Because those are the ones really that were excluded in many
failed me. I do feel like the government and the President could business opportunities in our past. And we have a conscious view,
have prematurely handled it; maybe even dispatched soldiers that we prioritize those designated groups that have to be actually
earlier,” she rues now. involved in the mainstreaming of the economy. So the center really for
Five months on, what has been the fate of these small intervention is financial inclusion.”
entrepreneurs in the townships who have had to pick up the During the lockdown and the riots that rocked the country,
pieces of their existence? How have they resurrected their Matshamba says SEFA was “extremely busy” trying to support the
livelihoods affected by the double whammy of the pandemic recovery of small businesses.
and the civil unrest, only as recently as this year? “We had to come up with interventions to support SMMEs (small
The township is South Africa’s pulsating, beating heart, medium and micro enterprises) that were negatively affected by the
home to informal businesses that hold an entire nation together lockdown. And remember, this was the first time for almost everybody
with their invaluable value chains. They are a crucial – and who experienced this situation,” Matshamba adds. “And then also,
often untapped and overlooked – market segment contributing during the looting that took place, we were very busy because we had
to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). to quickly provide financial support, particularly working capital for
According to a report in 2019 by Statistics SA, the those entities affected by Covid-19.”
informal economy continues to grow with modern industrial According to SEFA’s report, having to provide capital for the

FINANCIAL
INCLUSION IS KEY
informal sector and microenterprises has always been a Financial inclusion plays
challenge, prior to the pandemic and the unrest. This is a formidable role in
largely because these business owners do not necessarily poverty alleviation and the
operate on “commercial principles”. Rarely would one economic mainstreaming
find such businesses registered with the Companies and of entrepreneurs in the
Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC), South African townships.
Revenue Service (SARS) or Unemployment Insurance Fund Matt Brownell, VP
(UIF). Commercial at Yoco, a popular
“In most cases, these businesses operate without any form point-of-sale payments
of documentation and neither have dedicated bank accounts provider for small businesses
nor financial records. Funding decisions to informal and processing more than $1 billion
microenterprises are mainly based on past relationships with in card payments per year, tells
financing intermediaries or character assessment outcomes,” FORBES AFRICA that the
the report reads. informal sector is an important
part of the economy.
BIRTH OF THE TOWNSHIP ECONOMY “However, due to the lack of accessibility to payment solutions,
There seems to be many prevailing misconceptions with and the red tape surrounding product structures such as complicated
doing business in the informal sector, making it hard to find application forms, lengthy processes, and the requirement to have a
people willingly venturing in full steam into its economy. bank account, many entrepreneurs in the informal sector are excluded
But a large number of these stigmas and misconceptions are from earning opportunities via card payments.
“surface-level”, says Bulelani Balabala. “Payments are the blood of the economy and a big part of how
Balabala has been an entrepreneur for over 15 years now we enable people to thrive... By providing easy access to affordable
and is the founder of Township Entrepreneurs Alliance products and payment solutions, Yoco is able to bridge this gap which
(TEA) in South Africa, a platform for entrepreneurs in the allows merchants, anywhere, to get affordable financial tools, thereby
informal sector to access information, mentorship and increasing growth and profitability prospects for them and the
business support. TEA’s headquarters are in Thembisa, a economy,” he says.
large township situated in the East Rand of the Gauteng
province. However, TEA helps businesses in townships across the

country.
Balabala explains to FORBES AFRICA where the perceived
misconceptions about the informal sector stem from.
“I think for me, some of the surface-level misconceptions are
that the township is inferior; the township is cheap. And I think
over and above that, obviously, your disposition as an employer,
trying to employ someone and having them work. And it’s
happened to me many times, having a professional who has worked
in Sandton, Rosebank or Hyde Park, you’re telling them to come
work in Thembisa and they won’t,” Balabala says.
Are these misconceptions around safety, security, reliability
I think for me, some of the surface- and more a notion from post-1994? Mazwai explains it better.
According to him, before democracy in 1994, the existing players,
level misconceptions are that the large enterprises and businesses made substantial profits.
township is inferior; the township “They could not attend to the townships because of apartheid.
And they could not enter the rural areas, because of apartheid, it
is cheap... was not their homeland.”
– Bulelani Balabala, founder of But when 1994 came, the economy opened, and companies
Township Entrepreneurs Alliance made super-profits, explains Mazwai.
In the wake of democracy, the time was linked with specific

I remember asking myself
what the hell was going
on. I even broke down and
I did not take it very well.
– Andile Sesanti, Founder of
Sesanti King
strategies to inculcate new players in the townships. commercial area in Soweto. On that fateful morning of July 12, Sesanti
“And those new strategies and methodologies also bring in new did not think the rioters would find their way to Orlando but the
people. And it became very exciting, and so on. [But] we did not do this moment nearby Bara was hit, he knew the worst was yet to come.
right and now we’re still not doing it,” Mazwai says. “We are instead “Bara and Orlando are about a street apart,” Sesanti tells FORBES
asking the existing players to expand into the townships and rural areas, AFRICA. “When I saw that they are in Bara, we decided to go look on
it’s not going to benefit the country or reduce the unemployment, it’s the ground and see what was happening. When I got there, I had found
just not going to work to the extent that we want; 34% unemployment that our place had been looted.”
is no chicken feed.” Sesanti says tables, process machines, kettles and other equipment,
Mazwai’s conversation on big corporations and enterprises easily valued to the tune of R15,000 ($960), which took him three months to
correlates with Balabala’s understanding of the informal settlement’s make, were stolen.
economic history. “I remember asking myself what the hell was going on. I even broke
“I think I still go back to when the malls were allowed by the down and did not take it very well.”
associations to come into the townships. I think for me that was the Sesanti had applied for some of the government-approved grants
worst thing that could have been done. And it wasn’t regulated in the for riot-hit businesses but says there was little or no communication
right way.” regarding the recovery funds to help him rebuild his business.
Balabala opines that township economies have always had resources Instead, the health entrepreneur ventured into leveraging off the
and revenue streams but the government failed in how regulations commercial value of the township and found the funding himself.
were meant to work. “I guess to a degree, we also as a people are Sesanti moved his business to the famed Vilakazi Street also in Soweto,
failing ourselves. But I think the real power now as a people is an home to two international icons.
understanding of an intrinsic fact that we can’t wait for the government Thankfully, the domestic and international visitors trickling into
to come and bring us the solution. Vilakazi Street helped alleviate his concerns.
“Because historically, government and government departments On every tourist’s to-do list when visiting Johannesburg, Vilakazi is
and institutions have not availed assistance to these entrepreneurs,” the only street in the world to have produced two Nobel Prize winners
Balabala adds. — the late former president Nelson Mandela as well as anti-apartheid
Trying his best to be self-sustained is Andile Sesanti, the founder human rights activist Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
of Sesanti King, a health brand based in Soweto. Sesanti King retails Vilakazi Street is also where 13-year-old Hector Pieterson was
indigenous herbs and vegetable smoothies, which he calls “drinking shot dead, during the student uprising of June 16, 1976, which is now
yoghurts”, for the health-conscious. commemorated every year in South Africa as Youth Day.
Sesanti King’s office and operational space was based in Orlando, a Although the township economy has a place on the commercial

FORBES AFRICA
A four-star hotel set for opening

in December at the Khayelitsha
township in Cape Town
map thanks to iconic hubs like Vilakazi Street, Sesanti is realistic about that because in a bird’s eye view, people just see Soweto and think it’s
the overall prospects. flourishing but that’s actually not the case.”
“The township has different businesses from micro to small to It’s not easy to start a business in the informal settlement, Sesanti
medium,” Sesanti says. “So, I think the township economy needs reiterates.
serious intervention because I think not enough is being done. And in “Starting any business can be quite daunting,” agrees entrepreneur
Vilakazi, you might say that the township economy here is growing, Annette Skaap.
because we see cars here every weekend. But it’s just not fair to just say Skaap is the woman behind “the first four-star luxury hotel in
it’s growing. We just need to look at other deeper dynamics, because Khayelitsha”, another one of South Africa’s large townships, located
there are people like me and others that see a decline. But you find in Cape Town. This has to be a first in a South African township, says
Skaap, about the hotel.
After 10 years in the aviation industry as a flight attendant for
national carrier, SA Express, Skaap decided to pursue her aspirations
in business and turn hotelier. Born in the Kwa-Langa township and
raised in Khayelitsha, the entrepreneur says that building the hotel
was not just about opening a luxurious place in a township but also
about building trust when it comes to townships and breaking down
stereotypes.
“Besides, it is challenging trying to start a business,” Skaap explains,
“There are other factors that can make it difficult. Whether it’s the
location itself, finance, security, one thing or the other, there’s always
something, you know, the challenges we faced were raising the
capital to build and complete this project. The lockdown derailed the
building process.”
The hotel is finally scheduled to open in December 2021.
Within township businesses, Skaap hopes to change several narratives associated with being a
people think you would receive business owner in the township or being an investor or consumer in
the township economy. Some of the stigmas she encountered starting
substandard service as opposed to a business in a township ranged from the levels of service offerings to
businesses in more developed and the crime.
“Within township businesses, people think you would receive
affluent areas... substandard service as opposed to businesses in more developed and
– Annette Skaap, hotelier affluent areas,” Skaap says. “And just to add, things such as crime,
obviously, we cannot look away from the fact that crime is a serious

FORBES AFRICA
cooperatives through the provision of funding. SEFA states that its

corporate plan contributes to the Department of Small Business
Development’s medium-term strategic framework objectives and
is guided by the legislation, policies and strategies.
“We work very closely with the Department of Small Business
Development because we get our funding mainly from the
department. And we also manage some of the funds that the
department actually deploys into the economy,” Matshamba tells
FORBES AFRICA.
“You will note that those townships were built in these areas
that are not really convenient for people to even go into town,
When you have expos about digital or for work and other business activities. And now we’re seeing
an emergence of big retailers moving into the township. And as
technology, people will be interested these retailers move in, our people are actually excluded from
only when the expo or the event is in participating in those businesses.”
According to both Balabala and Sesanti, entrepreneurs are
their area. If we are to address this either unaware of government initiatives and programs or most
digital divide, this gender divide, we of the time, with little or no documentation, they don’t meet the
prerequisites to even apply for them.
must bring this stuff to the people. “I think especially with the riots, you see how important the
– Kelebogile Molopyane, CEO of Africa township economy is, we even saw this with Covid,” says Ropah
Beyond 4IR Musvaire, CEO and co-founder of Kweza Technologies, a platform
that promotes technology benefiting township retailers such as
spaza shops.
problem, however, crime is everywhere in South Africa.” Small businesses in the township economy need to maintain
This is not the first business Skaap has built along with her husband, the self-sufficient nature of their operations, according to advocate
Ace Mabheka, known to the community as ‘Kwa Ace’. The couple Pieter Holl, CEO of the Innovation Hub. Although the “elephant
have built their enterprises “through the support of the people in in the room” is funding,
Khayelitsha” in turn providing job opportunities. there is only so much
“Over the years, we have developed a relationship with the support that entities like
community, the councilors, the Khayelitsha Development Forum the government, SEFA
and other bodies,” Skaap says. “Since the inception of the business,
Those small spaza shops and The Innovation
there were concerns of safety for the neighboring residents and and tuck-shops were Hub can offer.
tourists in the early years. Through ongoing engagement with the sustaining people in the “There should be
community, my husband has had to concede to the community’s change management
needs and wants in exchange for their support and buy-in. One township economy. and a mindset. We need
of the agreements is that we should create opportunities for – Ropah Musvaire, CEO, to disrupt the monopoly
members of the Khayelitsha community.” Kweza Technologies kind of industries,” Holl
says. “If I say monopoly,
CHANGING THE STATUS QUO you know, it is your
There are multiple government interventions in place to dominant white type of companies that need to be disrupted.”
support aspiring business owners in the informal sector grow The Innovation Hub is a Gauteng innovation agency that is
their markets. In July 2020, former minister of Small Business an owned subsidiary of the Gauteng Growth and Development
Development, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, indicated in her budget Agency. Its program eKasiLabs is part of the Gauteng
speech to the National Council of Provinces that township and government’s Township Economy Revitalization Strategy.
rural entrepreneurship programs would be prioritized. “The potential in the township is huge. Currently, we have
“When we tabled our maiden budget vote, it was part of almost 600 companies that we support at The Innovation Hub.
delivering on the undertakings of the State President to resuscitate And to be honest with you, 85% or I’m inclined to say, 90% of
the township economies,” Ntshavheni stated in her address. them are township-based entrepreneurs and a large number
Organizations like SEFA also have a clear mandate to be the of those are women-owned companies. And we are obviously
leading catalyst for the development of sustainable SMMEs and focusing on the youth as well. So, the potential is huge.”

RIPE FOR OPPORTUNITIES?
Businesses in the informal sector are trying to be resilient,
even in the wake of the pandemonium of the pandemic and
the protests. Through all the mayhem, the people who live and
work in the townships need it to thrive, for the sustenance of
their families and communities.
“So you’ll notice that once Covid actually hit and really
at the peak of the pandemic, those small spaza shops and BANKING ON food and what also makes a
tuck-shops were sustaining people in the township economy,” THE STOKVEL difference is in easing debt
for unexpected events like
Photos by Chanel Retief; Luvuyo Wogqoyi, Bulumko Gana from Iskeem Semicimbi; Photo by GUILLEM SARTORIO/AFP via Getty Images; Photo by Sfiso
Musvaire explains. “People couldn’t travel and so this is where COMMUNITY

Netshandama; Photo by Yoco; Photo by: Eye Ubiquitous/Universal Images Group via Getty Images; Photo by ALEXANDER JOE/AFP via Getty Images
they were getting their basic food and commodities from. And funerals. As this economic
To many South Africans,
these are businesses that have always existed. They’re supporting industry is mostly found in the
stokvels are an age-old
the livelihoods of families.” township areas, Mduduzi J.K.
tradition. A stokvel, according
“I did not know what kind of impact I had when my Bophela and Njabulo Khumalo
to the National Stokvel
business was running,” Tyesi says. “I support my own family wrote in their 2019 academic
Association of South Africa, is
and spend a lot of money supporting them. I wish I could study The role of stokvels in
a type of credit union where
show you my bank statements, you would be shocked! But South Africa: a case of economic
people enter into an agreement
also, with my staff, I help them get by as well because they also transformation of a municipality
to contribute a fixed amount
have families.” that: “Developing the stokvel
of money to a common pool
According to the International Labour Organization, industry could be key to
weekly, fortnightly or monthly.
globally, 61% of the employed population earn their living in poverty alleviation, reduction
In 2020, The Conversation
the informal economy. of unemployment and
reported that there is an
Balabala says that the big problem is governments think broadening equitable access to
estimated R49.5 billion ($3.2
townships only want money but the message is bigger than that. the ownership of the economy
billion) in member savings
“Yes, we want money as entrepreneurs, but we don’t want and capital accumulation; thus,
and this concept has about 11.6
yours. As much as we want you to regulate the space, we want improving the livelihoods and
million participants.
you to actually govern because you’ve got broad-based black raising the standard of living.”
Finmark Trust stated in its
economic empowerment (BEE). You’ve got enterprise supply, These invitation-only clubs
2018 report that the majority
development and billions are allocated through BEE by large are a mechanism of informal
of members who join these
corporates or blue-chip companies for enterprise supply and social security where members
stokvel schemes no longer
development,” Balabala says. “But this money never lands in the share common goals.
stress about basic things like
hands of these entrepreneurs in townships. And just by simply
regulating that space better and managing that space you would
find that your turnover rate would be much better, because you [based on] the infrastructure disadvantage and also the disposition
can’t have R5 billion ($320 million) and the sort of output of of local governance and being able to access resources, it puts [these]
entrepreneurial growth doesn’t match that scale, even by 10%.” entrepreneurs at a disadvantage from the get-go.
There is also a thrust to digitize the township space or help “For, countries like India and China where at an elementary level,
those in the technology sector in the townships grow. kids are taught coding but, in this country, you can only access it at
Kelebogile Molopyane, CEO of Africa Beyond 4IR, says that university level. So, for me, the township is important up until we
this brings to bear another concomitant issue; that people in address all the historic dispositions and we level up the playing field,
informal settlements think it can’t be digitized. then we’ll be happy and say it’s entrepreneurship across the board.”
“We tend to think when you are talking digital divide, when If 2021 has taught business anything, it’s that you can pandemic-
I go to rural areas such as Diepsloot or Alexandra, the people proof it as much as you want but that will not stop any civil unrest
will say ‘what is digital technology, I have to think about getting from shattering the windows and breaking the walls of your property
water’,” Molopyane says. “But what we saw was when you have as well as the deep-seated hopes of your being.
expos about digital technology, such people will be interested only Like Tyesi, who watched her business valued at R2.1 million
when the expo or the event is in their area. If we are to address ($134,000) get “flushed down a toilet” in a matter of minutes, there are
this digital divide, this gender divide, we must bring this stuff to countless, nameless others hopeful the township will rise again from
the people.” the embers, against the odds, kicking, screaming and surviving.
“For me, it’s the reason why it’s ‘township entrepreneurs’ “My hope is to come back bigger and better than I was before!”
and not just ‘entrepreneurs’, because of the historic disposition. says Tyesi, echoing the hopes and dreams of millions wanting a
And we can’t speak against that,” Balabala says. “So just purely better future for themselves and in turn, their country.

COVER STORY
African Of
NANA AKUFO-ADDO, GHANA’S PRESIDENT, HAS REPOSITIONED THE
COUNTRY IN THE GLOBAL MARKETPLACE AS ONE RELIANT ON ITS
OWN RESOURCES AND STRENGTHS. HE IS REDEFINING ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT AND IT’S RESONATING ACROSS AFRICA. IN AN EXCLUSIVE
INTERVIEW WITH FORBES AFRICA, HE DWELLS ON THE NEW FOCUS OF
THE WEST AFRICAN NATION THAT HAS IN RECENT YEARS CONSISTENTLY
BEEN ONE OF THE WORLD’S FASTEST-GROWING ECONOMIES.
The Year BY PEACE HYDE
N 2019, WHEN GHANA’S PRESIDENT NANA us. It will not work, it has not worked and it will not work.” A
Akufo-Addo shared his vision for the national visibly uncomfortable Macron could all but muster a somewhat
transformation agenda through the Ghana Beyond embarrassed smile at the audience.
Aid (GBA) charter, the mandate for his New But the video of this speech went viral and the remark won
Patriotic Party (NPP) government was simple – Akufo-Addo praise on social media. The president followed by
move away from the traditional view of a Ghana tasking his government to implement the GBA strategy document
dependent on aid to grow the economy and focus and charter for a more prosperous Ghana.
on its core competitive advantages. After years of negative growth and economic challenges,
Photos by Kelechi Amadi-Obi
Much before that, at a joint press conference Akufo-Addo had a new vision for Ghana when he assumed office
with French President Emmanuel Macron in 2017, and that was for the country to look within, to its own
in 2017 in Ghana’s capital Accra where a local capabilities. Central to his thinking of growing Ghana’s economy
journalist asked whether France was going to extend its support was offering free senior high school education to children who
to other countries in Africa that were non-French colonies, the would otherwise not receive it. Since its implementation, a total of
Ghanaian president, serving his first term, had interjected with: “We 1.6 million students have reportedly benefited from the program.
can no longer continue to make policy for ourselves in our continent “We do want, and we shall work, to take Ghana to where
on the basis of whatever support that the western world can give she deserves to be, a prosperous and dynamic member of the

FORBES AFRICA
COVER STORY | AFRICAN OF THE YEAR
world community which is neither a victim nor a pawn of the in 2017, according to a Reuters report.
world order,” Akufo-Addo said in a speech at the 75th anniversary In 2020, automobile major Volkswagen expanded its footprint
celebrations of North Rhine-Westphalia, a top industrial in SSA with the opening of a vehicle assembly facility in Accra,
region in Germany. During the visit, the president expressed his making Ghana its fifth vehicle assembly location in SSA (after
determination for Ghana to wholeheartedly participate in the global South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda).
marketplace not only as a supplier of raw materials but as a leading And in April 2021, social media giant Twitter sent shock waves
exporter of manufactured goods. across the bigger economic hubs in Africa when it chose Ghana as
The messages were clear and consistent. its regional headquarters.
Endowed with natural resources and human capital, Ghana What has also been loudly clear has been Akufo-Addo’s
wanted to take accountability for its own growth and economic deliberate strategy to involve the diaspora in the country’s
development without relying solely on aid from former colonial economic growth. In September 2018, the president launched a
masters. year-long initiative to commemorate “the 400th anniversary of
The country had not been without its share of crises and the first-recorded forced arrival of enslaved African people to the
difficulties. United States” and dubbed it the Year of the Return, Ghana 2019.
On the economic front, its over-reliance on gold and cocoa The President called for not just Ghanaians but people of
exports meant that there was little in the way of diversification with African descent, including African-Americans, to return to Africa,
inflation peaking at 17.46%. or more specifically Ghana, in what was to be a reconnection
After the president won the 2016 elections and came to power in with their roots. New visitors arriving to the shores of Ghana
2017, new oil fields were found with production starting in 2017 and were welcomed to a shiny, newly-refurbished airport which was
jumping to 60 million barrels which resulted in a boost in oil export adjudged winner of best airport by passenger volume on the
revenues, pushing the country’s economic growth above 6% for each continent according to Airports Council International. In what
of the three years to 2019, according to Reuters. is perhaps the president’s biggest PR campaign and by far the
During that period, inflation receded to less than 10% for the first country’s loudest communication drive, it was estimated that the
time in six years in 2018, according to figures from Ghana’s ministry Year of the Return campaign resulted in an additional 237,000
of finance. visitors to Ghana accounting for a 45% increase compared to the
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected a GDP growth previous year and thereby injecting $1.9 billion into the Ghanaian
rate of 8.8% in 2019 for Ghana as the fastest-growing economy in economy, according to figures from the Ghana Tourism Authority.
sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). A March 2018 article in The New York The country also made strides in the international bond
Times said: “Now, as oil prices rise again and the country’s oil market, raising $3 billion on the international debt market using a
production rapidly expands, Ghana is on track to make a remarkable four-year zero-coupon bond tranche.
claim for a country mired in poverty not long ago: It is likely to have “This historic bond issuance is a strong signal that investors
one of the world’s fastest-growing economies this year, according to have confidence in our plan for debt sustainability, economic
the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the International recovery and growth,” said Ghana’s finance minister Ken Ofori-
Monetary Fund and the Brookings Institution.” Atta, as reported in Reuters.
A May 2019 article in the World Economic Forum concurred: And where investors have confidence, foreign direct
“Just three decades ago, Ghana was in crisis; impoverished and investments (FDI) follow. According to the Ghana Investment
suffering famine, it was on the verge of economic collapse. Fast- Promotion Centre (GIPC), despite the pandemic, total investment
forward to the present day, the West African nation has staged a inflows reached $2,796.49 million in 2020, with a total FDI value
remarkable comeback and is predicted to be the world’s fastest- of $2,650.97 million accounting for a 139.06% increase over 2019.
growing economy in 2019.” This means some 279 projects were registered within the year
The economic growth was not just buoyed by the discovery of oil amounting to an estimate of 27,110 jobs being generated from
but also what many economic pundits considered to be sound fiscal those projects.
policies wrapped in a peaceful democracy. The world noticed. Another plus? The African Continental Free Trade Area
Companies such as Google, which in its bid to position itself as an (AfCFTA) agreement which came into effect from January
‘AI first’ company with already established centers in strategic cities 2021. Ghana was selected amongst its peers as the trading bloc’s
such as Tokyo, Zurich and Paris, made the decision to open its first Secretariat.
Artificial Intelligence center in Africa in Accra in 2019. The AfCFTA is estimated to create a single continental market
Exxon Mobil in 2018 moved to sign a deep-water oil exploration for goods and services covering a market of 1.2 billion people and
deal with Ghana after the International Tribunal for the Law of the accounting for a combined GDP of $3 trillion.
Sea drew a new ocean boundary favoring Ghana over the Ivory Coast “As a champion for democracy, Ghana is a supporter of free

Nana Akufo-Addo has been adjudged the ‘2021 African of the Year’. Previous
winners of the coveted award include Rwandan President Paul Kagame
(2018), President of the African Development Bank Akinwumi Adesina (2019)
and World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (2020).
speech, online freedom, and the Open Internet, of which Twitter is financial services (DFS) through the National Financial Inclusion
also an advocate. Furthermore, Ghana’s recent appointment to host the and Development Strategy 2017-2023, which makes the government
Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area aligns with our accountable to measures to achieving universal access to DFS as well as
overarching goal to establish a presence in the region that will support creating an Africa-wide payments infrastructure by 2030.
our efforts to improve and tailor our service across Africa,” says Uche To find out more, FORBES AFRICA sat down for a face-to-
Adegbite, Director, Product Management at Twitter on the company’s face interview with President Akufo-Addo in early November in
‘Twitter’s presence in Africa’ blog post. Accra to dwell on his government’s economic policies and reforms
These milestones, in a historic pandemic period, could have played in a challenging global environment and about the country’s new
a part in the re-election of the 77-year-old statesman for a second term business focus:
as Ghana’s president, from January 2021.
With a long lineage of political luminaries as ancestors, it was Q. CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING NAMED ‘AFRICAN OF THE YEAR’,
perhaps in Akufo-Addo’s destiny to lead the country. WHICH EACH YEAR RECOGNIZES EXEMPLARY INDIVIDUALS ACROSS
THE AFRICAN CONTINENT. WHAT DOES THIS RECOGNITION MEAN TO
Prior to assuming office as president, he practised as a human rights YOU AT A TIME WHEN NOT JUST GHANA BUT THE WORLD IS FACING
lawyer in France and England. His father, Edward Akufo-Addo, who UNPRECEDENTED CHALLENGES?
was a lawyer, was the nation’s president in the late 1960s and one of the A: First of all, I’m overwhelmed, I have to thank you very much for
founding fathers of Ghana. recognizing the work we are doing here in Ghana. Your magazine
“Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, an indefatigable visionary, has is a global brand and everybody knows about it. It means the world
not only inspired his country but the continent of Africa to rise up and is looking at the work we are doing here in Ghana and we are
shine. He has, through his aspirations and efforts, transformed Ghana encouraged by it. We are a relatively small country and operating in
one of the most challenging regions of the world as you know with
into a modern economy. His influence has reached beyond Ghana to
major problems, security threats and going through the difficulties
the continent, pleading the case of a Ghana Beyond Aid thereby that have been imposed on our economy by the Covid pandemic.
infusing a great dose of confidence to transform the continent. So, to put all that together and yet make the effort to grow our
This is positively changing the narrative and bringing real hope of country as a genuine democracy and as a country serious about
a brighter future to Africa’s youth. Primus inter pares [first among economic growth and development, I think that is what those who
equals],” says Yofi Grant, CEO of GIPC, to FORBES AFRICA. are responsible for this decision have seen and I am very encouraged
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the country revised its 7% growth that the work we are doing so far has received this attention and
projections to about 1%, but it did not slip into recession. acknowledgement. It’s an inspiration for us and an encouragement
The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) recorded an impressive 36.13% for us to continue on the path we have set for ourselves.
in dollar terms for investors in the first half of 2021, with a market
capitalization of GHC61.3 billion ($10 billion). Q: GHANA IS NOW THE TRADE CAPITAL OF AFRICA UNDER THE AFCFTA,
“Ghana has been consistently one of the fastest-growing economies HOW DO YOU WANT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS OPPORTUNITY?
in the world for each of the last four years, notwithstanding the A: The question itself, to some extent, is the answer. This project –
decline of GDP growth to 0.9% in 2020 as a result of Covid-19,” says Dr building a common market– has been on the table for a very long
Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice President of Ghana, to FORBES AFRICA. time and has been talked about over and over again. But suddenly,
Bawumia lists key indicators such as the reduction of lending we brought it to being and it is a very important first step. But look
rates from 32% in 2016 to 21% in 2020, increasing gross international at what it means; it means we are now talking about the possibility
reserves from $6.1 billion in 2016 to $8.6 billion in 2020, the upgrade of of trade with each other. Yes, the rules are still being made as we are
Ghana’s first credit rating in 10 years from B- in 2016 to B with a stable going along but trading has begun. We began on January 1 [2021] with
outlook, and the implementation of the ‘one district, one warehouse’ as the open market. A considerable amount of the rules and regulations
well as the ‘one district, one factory’ initiatives. to be able to function and make it equitable for all nations are now in
Another area of focus is Ghana’s growing youth population. place. And the implications are enormous.
There is a push to create an enabling environment for technology Suddenly, traders, producers, manufacturers and exporters have
startups and for small and medium entrepreneurs to thrive. a market of 1.2 billion people as a target. The projections are that the
According to a World Bank report, Ghana Digital Economy Diagnostic, market will grow to a market of 2.5 billion people in 30 years’ time so
the Ghanaian government is spearheading the adoption of digital we are talking about a major trading bloc which functions effectively.

So, yes, it presents an enormous opportunity for us; 16% of the
collective GDP of the 54 states in Africa is derived from intra-
Africa trade. It is the lowest of any regional trading group in the
world. Compare it to the European Union for instance which has
27 nations with 75% of the collective GDP generated from intra-
European trading and Asia accounts for 56% of the internal trading
of the community.
We have not been focusing on trading amongst each other as a
continent for trade and investment. But the market now exists for
us. Our first priority is how to expand trade with our neighbors,
within the continent and we see that as a more secure route to
bring in prosperity to the continent. So, it is a major step forward
and I am particularly happy that Ghana has been honored by her
peers to be the secretariat for this.
Q. YOU MADE A POWERFUL SPEECH WITH FRENCH PRESIDENT

EMMANUEL MACRON: “WE CAN NO LONGER CONTINUE TO MAKE
POLICY FOR OURSELVES IN OUR CONTINENT ON THE BASIS OF
WHATEVER SUPPORT THAT THE WESTERN WORLD CAN GIVE US. IT
WILL NOT WORK, IT HAS NOT WORKED AND IT WILL NOT WORK.”
THAT SPEECH WENT VIRAL, WHY DID YOU TAKE THAT STANCE AT
THE TIME?
A: I am not quite sure timing had anything to do with it but
much more the conviction. We have seen ourselves becoming
increasingly dependent on foreign donors to support our budget
and support the development of our infrastructure and it has
become something like the central theme in the economic
management of the continent.
But it hasn’t done a great deal for us in terms of transforming
the life of our people and bringing prosperity. You don’t have to be
that much of a profound analyst to see for yourself.
So, what does it do? It calls for a new paradigm. It calls for a
new analysis of how we can be able to get out of where we are and
We are a relatively small country move forward and I think that the first thing is the intellectual, the
and operating in one of the most mindset and the vision that you have and how you work the vision.
There has to be a broad consensus that the path of depending
challenging regions of the world on French, American or British tax payers will not resolve our
as you know with major problems, problem. Then, secondly, 30% of the world’s remaining minerals
security threats and going through the are on our soil.
A huge percentage of the amount of arable land and water, all
difficulties that have been imposed on of these basic pillars of economic development are found here and
our economy by the Covid pandemic. they are here in abundance.
If that is the case, shouldn’t that be our focus?
How can we strengthen our capacity to exploit these things
So, what we have been trying to do in Ghana apart from struggling directly ourselves as a way of addressing the issue of poverty? If
to have the [AfCFTA] Secretariat here with its obvious implications you put those two together, for me, it justifies the statement I made.
is also to prepare our business communities and institutions to be The fact that it went viral indicates that perhaps it was a statement
able to maximize the opportunities that this focus gives us. I think it that people have been waiting for, for a long time. It is a very central
is a tremendous opportunity to strengthen our manufacturing sector, figure of how I have been trying to carry out my obligation as the
improve the productivity of our agriculture and take great advantage of President of Ghana.
the digital revolution which is the fourth industrial revolution that all of We are not talking about Ghana turning its back on the world or
us are talking about and which is now an important driving force in the calling for Africa to isolate itself from global trade; far from it, the
making of policy and implementation of policy in Ghana. statement is clear. No man is an island and it is true of nations but

FORBES AFRICA
COVER STORY | AFRICAN OF THE YEAR
the emphasis is the change of focus and the way we look at problems. If addressing these fundamental concerns. We see that as a way
you accept the validity of the statement I made to the French president, it of having the economy come back and returning to the high
changes a lot of things and especially the dynamics of how we go about our growth rates we had before the pandemic.
development.
We have coined a phrase out of it calling it ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ as a Q: GHANA BEYOND AID IS ONE OF YOUR MAIN GOALS; DO EXPLAIN
central feature of our public policy, not just in the management of our THE VISION BEHIND IT AND THE ROLE OF GHANA’S YOUTH IN THIS
economy, but generally the way Ghana is positioning itself in the world PROCESS.
today. A: We have some 65% of our population below the age of 35 and
everything you are doing must address this majority as your
Q: AFTER CONSECUTIVE YEARS OF ECONOMIC GAINS THAT MADE GHANA principle concern. That is what the people of Ghana are today,
ONE OF THE FASTEST-GROWING ECONOMIES IN THE WORLD, COVID HIT THE young, looking at the country, repositioning the country and
WORLD AND AFRICA, AND YOU WERE FAST TO RESPOND WITH MEASURES there cannot be more positive energy in a population than the
TO ALLEVIATE THE EFFECTS OF THE PANDEMIC ON THE PEOPLE AND THE energy of young people. The creativity and sense of innovation
ECONOMY. COULD YOU UNDERLINE THOSE HIGHLIGHTS AND WHAT IS NOW are key. So yes, the Ghana Beyond Aid has the young people
NEEDED TO BRING GHANA BACK TO ITS FULL ECONOMIC POTENTIAL AS THE of Ghana at the center of what we are trying to do and the
‘BLACK STAR OF AFRICA’? conditions we are trying to create to enable them to have a sense
A: I was in fact in Switzerland and woke up in the morning, and turned of hope.
on the TV to hear the news and that was the first time there was this We all know the horrendous stories of our people crossing
worldwide alarm about what had happened in China. And it struck me the Sahara in a senseless way... So, to create a political, economic
immediately when I heard it that we would have to act extremely quickly and social project and say that if we work together and look
if this thing was to be contained. Already, at the time, we had statements at our resources, both human and material, we can put them
being made by Bill and Melinda Gates who went on record to say we together in a way that gives hope to all of our people so that they
would be dying in the millions and there would be dead bodies on the can make a good life for themselves here in Ghana and be part of
streets of Africa. a global community of prosperity and a sense of dignity. This is
For one, there is a lot of contact between China and Ghana. We have a an agenda about the young people of our continent.
significant population of citizens who are there and then we have a lot of
our trading community where China is our first source of services. So, the Q: ON THE HEALTHCARE SIDE, YOUR AIM IS TO VACCINATE 20
[dealings] of people going in and out of Ghana was very highly developed MILLION GHANAIANS; WILL THIS BE ACHIEVED WITHIN THE
and clearly if that was the source of the problem, then it is something that DIFFICULT AFRICAN CONTEXT REGARDING VACCINE AVAILABILITY?
could impact us very negatively and so I thought this is going to be a big A: Access to vaccines has been growing. I think by the end of
problem. this year, projections are that we would have received some 15
I have been very fortunate to have people around me who acted million vaccines. That 20 million target we may not reach this
quickly and came up with a task force and we created a series of year but we believe by the end of the first quarter next year, we
measures that were put in place to contain it and that appears to have would have attained.
worked. We have some thousand-plus deaths which is unfortunate but And the significance of it is that in a population of 30 million
I think in relative terms, if we look at the data to others, both on the people, if we are able to vaccinate 20 million, it means we are
continent and outside, ours has been relatively mild. vaccinating the entire adult population of Ghana and that in
But in the process, we had all these disruptions that we all know itself gives us all the immunity we need so as a target, it is a really
about, which has had a major impact on our economy and instead of important target. We are also taking some long-term decisions.
growing at 7%, which is the average we have been growing at since We have been dependent on other people to provide us with
2017 up to 2020, suddenly, we had to scale it down to less than 1% vaccines and that is an intolerable position.
growth. The pandemic is affecting your population and you are not
The comforting thing is that we managed, unlike many of our in a position to assist your population because you are having to
neighbors, to stay out of recession. We didn’t go into negative growth beg other people to give you what they have, is not a situation
and this is largely because the fundamentals that we had put in place that we can live with. We should have learned our lessons from
during the period of rapid growth was sufficiently robust to withstand the Ebola crisis but out of this crisis, we have to recognize the
all the effects of the pandemic. need to have our own domestic capabilities to produce our own
The Ghana Cares program has been about trying to reset the economy, vaccine.
trying to find the sources necessary to revive all the key sectors and then That is one of the important decisions we have taken. We are
also to focus on the new sectors. We want to accelerate the enhancement in the process of creating a national vaccine institute led by very
of agricultural productivity, and hasten the industrial development of capable and world-class Ghanaian scientists and we are hoping
our country as well as the digital revolution and these programs which that by next year it will be up and running so we can find strong
amounts to the 100 billion Obaatan Pa program that has been put in place capabilities to find vaccines for our people.

ADVERTORIAL BY AIROCIDE
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he end of October
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SOLE SURVIVORS
Tapping into Rwanda’s waste-to-wealth economy, Ysolde
Shimwe and Kevine Kagirimpundu have come a long way in
their eco-friendly shoes. They repurpose used tyres to make
soles and have survived the pandemic with their sustainable
offerings opening yet another new store this year.
WORDS AND PHOTOS BY RIDHIMA SHUKLA
I
N A CLATTERING FACTORY IN These are the sights and sounds that greet
Gahanga, minutes from Kigali, the you as you enter the manufacturing center of
capital city of Rwanda, stands a black Rwanda’s home-grown, eco-friendly footwear
and grey block of concrete, distinct brand Uzuri K&Y.
from its beige cohorts and the large Over 40 people, in colorful masks, sit across
swathes of yellow mud around it. from each other on tables as per the new norms
The sound effects surrounding this of social distancing in the workplace.
unsuspecting installation include the Each table is a team of trained experts
cacophony of churning machines, the resolute connected by a chain of processes needed to
tearing of sheets and the grinding of scissors in complete the production lines for Uzuri K&Y.
sync, and this is all accompanied by the strong The final result – comfortable, cruelty-free
smell of ethanol hanging in the air. footwear – line the right end of the facility,

FORBES AFRICA
ENTREPRENEURS | KEVINE KAGIRIMPUNDU AND YSOLDE SHIMWE
stacked neatly on dark brown wooden shelves.

The two 29-year-old founders of Uzuri K&Y, Kevine
Kagirimpundu and Ysolde Shimwe, are nearby, beaming
with pride. Their personalities match the myriad colors
around them.
Shimwe speaks about her eco-friendly ware: “We
use repurposed rubber for the sole and biodegradable
fabrics painted with natural dyes, and synthetic
vegetable leather for other parts of the shoe as well as
natural adhesives to put it all together – you can say we
are part of the circular economy.”
Sustainable green trends are undeniably fashionable
and the young entrepreneur-duo clearly have a deeper
emotional investment in their products.
As Shimwe adds: “We care for our people and our
planet. We want to sell a Rwandan product with love.”
The duo started Uzuri in 2012, and their vision We decided to create
fit right in with Rwanda’s aim of becoming a waste
emissions-free country by 2050. something by Rwandans for
Kagirimpundu shares that as students, they would fashion-lovers everywhere.
pass by landfill areas situated close to residential – Ysolde Shimwe
neighborhoods and wonder how they could become a
part of the solution to rid these sites of waste.
Currently, a large chunk of Rwanda’s Greenhouse
Gas Emissions come from the
densely-populated nation’s technology,” adds Kagirimpundu.
urban landfills and inspired Working with local tailors out of their homes and
by that same thought, Uzuri’s with just one sewing machine, the two young women
Our little footwear uses the repurposed started by manufacturing colorful bags and other
rubber from otherwise polluting accessories to sell on Facebook.
venture paid and non-biodegradable tyres. The open source social media platform not
us in lessons. The young entrepreneurs only allowed them to gain visibility but also gauge
were still at university in 2012, customer reaction.
studying creative design and “We learned to improve the quality and function
contemplating their future in the limited job market for of our products through customer feedback. Our little
designers in Rwanda, when they had the epiphany. venture paid us in lessons.”
“We were in university and we used to wonder In 2014, Uzuri received mentorship from a Swiss
where we would find jobs after school. We had entrepreneurship program based in Rwanda that
a passion for design and fashion. We decided to helped the brand streamline its purpose and guide the
create something by Rwandans for fashion-lovers duo’s approach to business and sales.
everywhere,” says Shimwe. “They advised us to stick to one thing, one product!
Ideas and ambition are often a great combination for It was very difficult for us to choose because we were
entrepreneurial success. However, youth and a lack of fond of them all,” says Shimwe.
experience often lead to more failures and lessons than The amateur entrepreneurs made their choice and
instant success. haven’t looked back. With a range of trendy, functional
“It wasn’t just shoes in the beginning, we wanted footwear, Uzuri was rebranded under the waste-to-
to make everything: bags, clothes and accessories. We wealth model of business.
knew very little about investment management and “The biggest challenge was finding skilled labor.

FORBES AFRICA
ENTREPRENEURS | KEVINE KAGIRIMPUNDU AND YSOLDE SHIMWE
So without capital or experience in shoe design, we

approached a local cobbler, Francios, who owned a
street shop in the city center to work with us as our
lead shoe-maker,” says Kagirimpundu.
With this, the duo embarked on a journey to shift
consumer behavior in a country not yet familiar with
sustainable fashion and with a general mistrust of
local products.
“In our culture, rubber sandals are often
considered cheap quality footwear, unfashionable.
We wanted to break away from that and substitute it
with the idea of sustainability,” offers Shimwe.
“We did not have money for a website. We
used to deliver door-to-door on moto-taxis,” says
Kagirimpundu.
Delivering door-to-door was the easy part for
customers often returned the shoes for alterations, We did not have money
asking for a better fit or a more comfortable style.
“Sometimes they would not buy them even after for a website. We used
alterations. We did not make much money but we gained to deliver door-to-door on
insight into the minds of our target audience,” the two
concur now.
moto-taxis.
The real-time feedback allowed the Uzuri founders – Kevine Kagirimpundu
and their shoemakers to better the design quality while
engaging in a personalized brand-building exercise with
their customers.
Small grants won at entrepreneurial competitions
allowed the two founders to keep their business afloat. As Uzuri slowly got endorsed by Rwandans, its popularity
And, in 2015, after much trial and error, Uzuri graduated kept pace with the expatriate community and the wealthy
from a Facebook store to a real brick-and-mortar shop at tourists looking to go back home with a piece of Rwanda.
Kigali’s international airport. “2019 was a great year for us. We were selling fast. We
“It is a restricted area, but we pitched our brand as one had to expand our store by breaking a wall and into the
made by Rwandans with pride to the authorities and they adjacent store, to fit in all the customers and the shoes,” says
allotted us a space of 15sqm.” Kagirimpundu.
After selling over 2,000 pairs of sandals at the airport To match the demand, the businesswomen scaled up
store, the two opened their first shop in 2016, in one of the manufacturing and opened another store in the city center for
most developed commercial zones of the city, at Kigali reaching out to their local clientele living far from the posh
Heights in Kimihurura. neighborhoods in the east of the city.
For the next three years, Uzuri’s footwear with ethnic “But, then the pandemic hit and our 80% expatriate and
African prints appealed to the expatriate and tourist tourist clientele came to a halt, people did not want to spend
community. Their customer-base kept growing but on shoes.”
Rwandans were still weary of stepping out in the locally- At a time when Rwanda’s retail market consisted mainly of
made Uzuri sandals. repurposed and imported fashion goods, Uzuri was attempting
“We changed our marketing approach and brought to shift consumer behavior with sustainable fashion.
back focus on our local audience by involving Rwandan The 2018 ban on the import of used clothing and footwear
models for all our advertising needs and we advertised in by the Rwandan government and the onset of the pandemic
Kinyarwanda,” say the two. disrupting cross-border trade actually catalyzed Uzuri’s sales.

While we expected our sales Creatives hard at work at
to flat-line, Rwanda’s fashion- Uzuri’s factory in Gahanga
lovers came to our rescue

by capturing 80% of our Kagirimpundu and Shimwe have come a long way.
pandemic sales. “Design is all about problem-solving and we have applied
our education to solve the problems in our business,” says
Kagirimpundu.
With the pandemic forcing people to work from home, the
“While we expected our sales to flat-line, Rwanda’s duo have also now launched a new line of home slippers.
fashion-lovers came to our rescue by capturing 80% of our They saw an opportunity and took the chance.
pandemic sales.” The company has sold over 44,000 pairs of footwear so far;
As Rwanda’s citizens receive their Covid-19 last year, their revenue totaled $300,000.
vaccinations and businesses gain momentum, the buying A combination of local talent and innovation in footwear,
power of the residents is picking up steadily and the duo Uzuri’s model did not command the same market share for
have launched another store this year. years, as it does today.
However, the impact of the pandemic can be seen in the What next?
decisions of the young entrepreneurs. They have recently The two smile and agree: “We have invested every penny
closed their airport store, as it no longer drives the same back into the business and our employees. We want to empower
level of profits, what with travel down. our community and those who work with us.”
“Our other stores need our attention and we can look Over the course of eight years growing their business,
at re-opening the airport store when tourism goes back to the Uzuri founders have become proponents of the win-win
normal,” they say. philosophy of sustainable innovation and branding. The
Starting out with a few shelves in a local shop to company is now looking to expand into Kenya, South Africa and
renting big stores in the best commercial zones in Kigali, Tanzania, to continue selling “from Rwanda with love”.

The Anti-Amazon
Josh Silverman is using cutting-edge technology and an army of
5 million artisan-entrepreneurs to transform ETSY from a hippie
flea market into a Wall Street hero—without losing its soul.
BY STEVEN BERTONI
The Handmade Tale

CEO Josh Silverman in Etsy’s
Brooklyn headquarters, which
is decorated with one-of-a-kind
art and furnishings from the
company’s crafting community.
O
N APRIL 2, 2020, DURING THE CHAOTIC marketplace. Silverman had been rushing to cut Etsy’s
early days of the pandemic, Etsy CEO Josh marketing spending to prepare for a Covid-induced slump. But
Silverman awoke to a sales shock. the latest report showed a surge.
Every four hours, the company’s data-junkie The source: face masks. The press was reporting that the
boss received an update on the volume of personalized federal Centers for Disease Control was soon to recommend face
pillows, hand-sewn stuffed animals, vintage Victorian lockets coverings for all Americans. With inventory already difficult for
and millions of other one-off items sold through the digital first responders to find, civilians were flocking to Etsy’s ragtag

FORBES AFRICA
CONTRARIAN | JOSH SILVERMAN
The world’s supply chains had dislocations.

Says Silverman, “Our mission is to keep commerce human.”
locked up. You couldn’t get face Etsy has always been the crunchy kid at the country club.
masks. Yet Etsy’s supply chain was Founded by Brooklyn artisan Rob Kalin, it churned through CEOs
before going public in 2015 as a Certified B Corporation beholden to
just two hands making. strict environmental and community standards. Wall Street hated its
do-gooder stance — and red ink. In 2016, Etsy’s net losses grew 45%, to
$54 million.
The next year, investors Black-And-White Capital, TPG and
community of hobbyists for their pandemic protection. Dragoneer bought up shares, hoping to force Etsy to sell itself. Etsy
“Until that day, if you searched Etsy for ‘mask’ you’d see Halloween pushed back. The board scrambled for a CEO to balance its mission-
costumes or face cream,” says Silverman, sitting cross-legged on a based employees and its money-obsessed investors. Silverman, who
handmade modern wingback chair in Etsy’s still-deserted Brooklyn had joined the board in 2016, seemed a good fit.
headquarters. “We had an emergency meeting to decide whether to Raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Silverman got a BA in public policy
double down on masks.” at Brown in 1991, worked for progressive New Jersey Senator Bill
The team was split. Some saw the face mask market as a fad. To Bradley and later earned a Stanford MBA. In 1998 he cofounded Evite,
others, it offered a chance for Etsy to show off the power and flexibility the online invitation manager, before spending five years leading eBay
of its decentralized, nearly 3 million-strong seller community. “This marketplaces abroad.
was our Dunkirk, where we could mobilize cottage industry to come to He turned around a struggling Skype in 2008 and later ran
the rescue,” says Silverman, who is 52. American Express’s credit-card business from 2011 to 2015.
“The world’s supply chains had locked up. You couldn’t get face
masks. Yet Etsy’s supply chain was just two hands making.”
Etsy rallied its sellers, emailing them info on mask materials and Etsy’s annual revenue increased 111%, to
designs. Programmers retooled the site toward selling the PPE; the $1.7 billion; net income was up 264%.
marketing team peppered the web and social media with ads. Within
a day, an army of 10,000 independent crafters were hawking masks on
Etsy. Within two weeks, 100,000 sellers were. With a maniacal focus on upping Etsy’s gross sales, he quickly
By the end of 2020, Etsy had moved more than $740 million slashed staff, departed most international regions and cut projects that
worth of masks — accounting for 7% of its $10.3 billion in gross wouldn’t create at least $10 million in gross sales. That included Etsy
sales (the value of everything sold on the site; Etsy takes a cut Studios, a craft supply website that 150 people, about 15% of Etsy’s total
of each sale). It turned out to be perfectly positioned for the staff, had spent 18 months building. “It was as painful as it sounds, a
pandemic: Sellers had more time to craft furniture, art and toys, real gut punch,” Silverman says. “We encouraged people who were
and quarantined customers were looking to buy it all. Etsy’s annual motivated and believed to stay, and those skeptical to leave.”
revenue increased 111%, to $1.7 billion; net income was up 264%. He improved Etsy’s search tools, scrapped in-house servers for the
“Home suddenly became your office, playground and day-care cloud and invested in customer service. By 2019, Etsy’s market cap had
center,” says Jefferies analyst John Colantuoni. “That drove demand for risen 300%, to $5 billion.
unique and handmade products.” In all, since Silverman took the helm, shares have returned some
Since Covid’s March 2020 lows, Etsy shares are up some 600%, 1,800%. “Prior to the pandemic, Josh did a great job focusing on the
torching the Nasdaq (up 115%), eBay (175%), Walmart (35%) and things that moved the needle on gross sales,” says Citi analyst Nicholas
Amazon (100%). The 16-year-old company is worth just shy of $30 Jones. “It positioned Etsy to benefit from the demand surge.”
billion. Active buyers and sellers on Etsy have doubled to 90 million and One challenge: enabling customers to find a one-of-a-kind product
5 million, respectively. As with most digital retailers, growth has slowed on Etsy as easily as they can a commodity on Amazon. To improve
in the second half of 2021 as the economy has reopened, but analysts search and product recommendations, it’s building AI-powered
Photo by Gabby Jones for Forbes
are betting Etsy will hit a 30% sales increase in 2021. computer vision tools to identify, tag and create structured data for its
Let Amazon, Walmart and Target battle to deliver mass-produced millions of unique items.
items as cheaply and quickly as possible. Etsy has empowered an Notorious for slow deliveries, Etsy is also raising expectations for
eclectic (and mostly female) community of crafters with the same sellers. Crafters are being pushed to provide transparent timelines
cutting-edge AI, data science and marketing tools that the retail giants and improve customer communication. A new dashboard will
use. show vendors how they rate for customer service and satisfaction.
In doing so, Etsy, member of Forbes’ Just 100 list of the top corporate Overachievers will get higher visibility on the site.
citizens, has provided millions of moonlighters with crucial income “We need to do what our sellers need, not want,” Silverman says.
— and purpose — in a time of unprecedented layoffs, lockdowns and “To serve the sellers, you need to obsess over the buyer experience.”

Appetite
Starting with just $45,
Ghanaian entrepreneur
Violet Amoabeng’s startup
has progressed with skincare
products you can eat and
the unpalatable realization
that the only way to make it
in business is to crash, break,
stretch and succeed.
BY PEACE HYDE
I
T WOULD BE HARD TO
decide if you would place Violet
Amoabeng’s products in
the beauty cabinet or on the
kitchen shelf.
Skin Gourmet, Amoabeng’s
skincare range, uses natural
raw materials that are pure and free of
preservatives that you could use on your skin
and eat at the same time.
Edible beauty?
“If you cannot eat what you are
For
putting on your skin, then why put
it on your face?” asks the Ghanaian
entrepreneur who admits to always
gravitating towards the unconventional.
“It made more sense because what
I wanted to create was something you
could either choose to eat or wear, either
Business
way it is good for you.”
She launched Skin Gourmet Limited
with only $45 five years ago, but it is now
a business that generates over $200,000
annually.
“My dad would not give me the
money to do any business because he
believed that if you don’t do business

FORBES AFRICA
ENTREPRENEURS | VIOLET AMOABENG
the hard way, you will not be able to survive when etc. I would come back from work and the first
you hit hard times and no one will help you,” recalls formulation I made I got these three ugly containers from
Amoabeng about her journey to becoming a self-made my mother. I had designed my logo and everything on my
businesswoman. computer. So, I would manufacture, package, label, put it
She had to think differently. on the shelf and every Saturday I would go to the market
Even as a child, when her classmates were debating to sell these products.”
careers as doctors, bankers or lawyers, Amoabeng Being from Ghana proved to be advantageous for her
opted for poetry, when she could have easily thought of fledgling startup.
following in her parents’ footsteps. “I started to really focus on Ghana because even the
Her father, one of Ghana’s most successful bankers, idea of eating your skincare [ingredients] is something I
is the founder of UT Bank, and her mother was the realized Ghanaians used a long time ago but we have lost
Managing Director of the Ghana tourist board where [that tradition]. When I go to source my ingredients, these
her primary focus was social and human development. are products that the local communities eat on a daily
“My dad was more of a dreamer and even though his basis and it’s been done for a long time. Preservatives are
mind was on profitability he wanted not needed because these communities
to build something that everyone have not had electricity for a long
would benefit from. My dad and time so they had a way to preserve the
my mum were more focused on me products and keep it [to] the highest
being a good person and they were qualities.”
not focused on a specific industry. What I wanted To get people to try her products,
They just allowed me to dream. It to create was Amoabeng would give them away for
was more important that I would free.
leave a good legacy. It was almost like something you could Her father’s lesson in business of not
they are responsible for how their either choose to eat expecting “any handouts from anyone”
children will affect the world.” started to pay off.
Amoabeng now understands just
or wear, either way “My dad also started his company
how powerful that upbringing was. it is good for you. with almost nothing and he knew he
Even after her parents’ divorce when had to struggle. In my dad’s mind, it
she was still young, she was never is important to struggle because it is
separated from this goal of adding the struggle that makes you strong and
value to humanity. innovative.
Shuttling between Ghana, Uganda and Canada in “I started with the love of making body butter without doing
her teenage years, she graduated with a marketing and any research. The entrepreneurial journey has been crazy hard.
business administration degree from the University of It will crash you and it breaks you and stretches you but you
Northern Virginia before completing her masters in enjoy it. When you see an obstacle and it’s hard but every time
accounting and finance as well as in supply chain and you find a way over it and that is what makes it incredible. With
logistics. every stage you overcome, you become a little bit greater,” offers
Her initial work experience was in her father’s Amoabeng as advice to aspiring entrepreneurs.
bank before securing an internship with the African Amoabeng has managed to transform Skin Gourmet into
Development Bank in Tunisia. a successful startup story with an average revenue growth of
“At the time, I wanted to take over my dad’s business. 80%. What makes this remarkable is the fact that this has been
As life would have it, that didn’t work out but I still achieved organically with no outside investment or bank loans.
wanted to help people and I knew business is how to And with that, she has learned her greatest lesson in
do it, but I didn’t know how it would look like,” says business.
Photo supplied
Amoabeng. “I had a limited way of thinking and I had to retrain myself

Her biggest challenge was acquiring capital to kick- on how to think. Nothing is impossible, everything is possible
start her business. and if you can’t do it, it is your fault. You never blame
“I asked family members to help source ingredients anybody for anything that happens to you.”

The $30 Billion Kitty
The standard playbook
in private equity is to
borrow, buy and cut
Private Equity’s Pet
Whisperer costs ruthlessly. But a
Raymond Svider’s
PetSmart win was
massive windfall from
enough to attract a $560 investments in PetSmart
million investment from
Blackstone for BC Partners and Chewy has taught
to expand into credit and
real estate investing BC Partners’ Raymond
Svider that sometimes,
doubling down on risks is
a better option.
BY ANTOINE GARA
R
AYMOND SVIDER,
chairman of private
equity firm BC
Partners, remembers
the intense pressure he
felt in the days leading up to Christmas
in 2017. His firm’s biggest investment,
the brick-and-mortar pet food retailer
PetSmart, was flailing. Its antiquated
technology needed an overhaul; costs
were ballooning. Svider was splitting
time between BC’s office on Madison
Avenue in Manhattan and PetSmart’s
Phoenix headquarters, where he was
acting CEO. PetSmart’s bonds were
trading just above 60 cents on the
dollar.
Photo by Gabby Jones for Forbes
He arrived in Phoenix to learn

from PetSmart’s CIO that the highly-
leveraged retailer had put in place a
companywide hiring freeze to conserve
cash, forcing it to rely on pricey
contractors.
“I didn’t know there was a hiring
freeze,” recalls Svider, who canceled
it on the spot, freeing his CIO to make

FORBES AFRICA
CONTRARIAN | RAYMOND SVIDER
You need to be ruthless 35 hires. “You need to and Pearl. “Conviction is really important.”
and very fast to adapt be nimble and flexible. A self-taught investor, Svider got his start after the go-go 1980s’
because in any business, Sometimes strict rules
force people to do the
leveraged buyout craze. In 1989, he was recruited out of graduate
school by legendary dealmakers Bruce Wasserstein and Joe Perella.
the world is changing wrong thing because Three years later, he moved to the Paris office of Baring Capital
every day in ways you they’re just applying Investors, a small buyout arm attached to London-based Barings Bank.
rules.” In 1995, a rogue trader at Barings, Nick Leeson, lost over $1 billion,
can’t anticipate. At the time, Svider rendering the 300-year-old bank insolvent. Barings was bought by
was bucking almost competitor ING for pennies on the dollar. It turned out to be a stroke
every business and of luck for Svider, who had been working alongside the division’s
investing convention. A leveraged buyout artist raised in cofounder. Baring Capital was spun off and renamed BC Partners.
Paris, with a master’s degree in electrical engineering from In the early 2000s, Svider moved to London to cut telecom deals as
one of France’s “grandes écoles” and an MBA from the markets were deregulated, and in 2007, when BC Partners expanded
University of Chicago, Svider, now 59, was working double into North America, Svider took the helm.
duty — two days a week stewarding the $40 billion (assets) The firm’s first major deal in the U.S. that year was a $16 billion
PE firm, three days at 1,650-store PetSmart, for which BC takeover of indebted satellite operator Intelsat, which promptly
paid $8.7 billion in 2014. became troubled and would fi le for bankruptcy protection in 2020.
Loaded with $6 billion in debt from the LBO and a further Svider’s hits, though, have far exceeded his misses.
$800 million dividend Svider had siphoned off, PetSmart was Nothing characterizes his wins more than a willingness to take
hurtling toward bankruptcy as pet owners moved steadily bold bets. One standout is GFL Environmental, a Toronto-based
online. The standard playbook called for ruthless cost cutting waste management rollup founded by Canadian entrepreneur Patrick
to unearth the cash to repay lenders. Divogi. In 2018, BC Partners recapitalized the company at a $2 billion
Svider doubled down instead. value, building a 40% stake and looking to expand it in the U.S. with
He found loopholes in PetSmart’s credit agreements, acquisitions.
enabling him to borrow even more money, angering When the coronavirus crisis hit, GFL was working on an IPO;
creditors, so he could acquire unprofitable online pet food Svider recommended to Divogi that they forge ahead despite the
retailer Chewy. To the outside world, it was the 21st-century market’s tumult. GFL priced its IPO at $19, below a pre-pandemic
version of notorious dot-com flameout Pets.com. But Svider range of $20 to $21 — one of just five listings in March 2020. Being
knew Chewy’s billionaire founder, Ryan Cohen, was beating public, Svider believed, would help GFL capitalize on the coming
every financial target he’d set years earlier when the two first market dislocation. After an early tumble to $13, GFL’s stock has nearly
met. Though it wasn’t profitable, Chewy wasn’t burning cash tripled as it acquired assets from Houston’s Waste Management and
as it grew rapidly. Most importantly, it was beating Amazon other competitors. BC Partners’ GFL holdings are now worth nearly
in its niche. It was the perfect way to burnish his troubled bet $5 billion, almost three times its initial investment. “Raymond has
on PetSmart. a unique ability to cut through the BS and focus on the big picture,”
Starting with an offer of $1 billion, Svider wound up Divogi says.
paying $3 billion in cash for Chewy, beating out rival Petco, in Despite private equity’s long-standing habit of realizing profits
April 2017. Skeptics howled, its bonds tumbled and lawsuits as quickly as possible, Svider seems to have little interest in selling
flew. But four years and a pandemic-inspired pet boom have Chewy, despite the fact that since mid-August, shares have fallen
turned Svider’s rulebreaking gambit into one of the biggest from $96 to $75, wiping out about $7 billion in gains as pandemic pet
private equity scores ever. spending slowed. BC Partners has a 76% position in the stock that’s
Chewy, now publicly traded, is worth more than $31 now worth nearly $25 billion.
billion, and its sales have skyrocketed nearly tenfold, to a There may be one more winning move left in Svider’s pet sector
projected $9 billion for 2021. PetSmart itself is deleveraging, gambit: the IPO of PetSmart, which could fetch a $10 billion valuation.
having refinanced its buyout debt in January. All told, Svider’s The once troubled retailer’s revenue rose 17% in the second quarter to
investors are sitting on a $30 billion windfall. $2.3 billion, and in the first half it generated $342 million in free cash
“You need to be ruthless and very fast to adapt because flow. PetSmart’s formerly distressed bonds now trade above par.
in any business, the world is changing every day in ways you Svider insists the pet market — including a new focus on health
can’t anticipate,” says Svider in his French accent, speaking care — remains underappreciated. Is he looking to consolidate his
from the Hamptons mansion where he now works remotely gains with a quick exit? Not necessarily, he says: “We don’t feel that
alongside his wife, three children and a pair of cats, Cashmere we’re in a particular rush.”

ONE SOLUTION
TO GLOBAL
HEALTHCARE
TESTING PROVIDES IMMEDIATE,
AC T I O N A B L E R E S U LT S R I G H T
WHERE YOU NEED THEM.
For more information, visit

www.globalpointofcare.abbott
© 2021 Abbott. All rights reserved. All trademarks referenced are trademarks of either the Abbott group of companies or their respective owners.
Any photos displayed are for illustrative purposes only. Any person depicted in such photos is a model. COL-06861-01 08/21
“The only positive thing of the pandemic is that it has brought
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something I am hugely proud of.” Jonathan BroombergCEO of
Vitality Health International
“The next few years will be a revolution,” says Emma Knox on the power of collaboration: during COVID-19, as the
Health Workstream Lead for B4SA, she spearheaded partnerships to procure 2 billion rand (133 million USD) of
PPE and medical equipment, bringing together major donors in the Solidarity Fund. Many companies like RMB,
PWC, Deloitte, AB Inbev and Discovery, who offered volunteers and other resources, were proof that for Health
Stewards in 2021 and beyond, collaboration is the name of the game. But if collaboration between governments,
agencies, associations, and businesses—even competitors—is the way forward, will there ever be the same coordinated
effort for healthcare as there is for Climate Change, as demonstrated in the recent COP26 Climate Change Conference?
- Special Feature -
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is Merck granting a royalty-free license
Ursula Myles, GM of Takeda, offers a similar instinct
IRULWVJURXQGEUHDNLQJ&29,'SLOOWR IRUPXOWLQDWLRQDOLVPWKDWJRHVIDUEH\RQGKHUȴUP
the United NationsEDFNHGQRQSURࢉW freeing up capacity for the production of the COVID-19
vaccine with Moderna and with J&J. “We partner with a
Medicines Patent Pool. number of organizations in Africa, such as the International Cancer
Alliance, looking to raise awareness on non-communicable diseases,”
It’s a novel idea in drug development: instead of a system built to says Myles. “Our efforts around NCD are a global issue. Hyperten-
EHQHȴWVKDUHKROGHUVDQHZȊRSHQVRXUFHȋSODWIRUPFRXOGERUURZ sion is underdiagnosed and often not adequately managed, and it’s
best practices from software like Linux and Firefox and potentially unfortunate that it happens across the country and continent. There
energize the race to end COVID-19. Merck’s initiative are challenges in every market, from lack of information, to what
subsidizes access for 105 countries, mostly in Afri- they eat, to cultural barriers.” Takeda’s consortium reaches every
ca and Asia, and Stephen Saad of Aspen believes country on the continent, but Myles highlights one of the biggest,
his company could market the drug for about $20 Blueprints for Innovative Healthcare Access in Kenya, as well as
per dose—less than 3% of the $712 that the U.S. has expansions throughout Tanzania and Ghana that focus not only on
agreed to pay. the disease itself, but on education of healthcare professionals and
on earlier diagnosis.
And Merck is hardly alone. “Abbott’s new Pandemic
Defense Coalition is dedicated to the early detection “We have one strategy, one concept for the group, but each
of, and rapid response to, future pandemic threats,” local region’s implementation differs,” says Dr. Ronnie
says Bassem Bibi, the company’s VP for Rapid Diag- van der Merwe, CEO at Mediclinic. “In Switzerland,
nostics. The worldwide program’s goal is to extend the we partner with Migros, the country’s biggest whole-
continuum of the patient journey through a partnership saler, across many service lines. Together we established
with Axios and patient-assistance programs, expanding on viral MedBase, a series of primary care and consultation clinics
surveillance and discovery over the last three decades through a offering radiology and lab services; Mediclinic runs the radiology
network amounting to dozens of partners in strategic geographic and lab services, and Migros runs the consultations.”
locations. Barnaby McKay, MD for AstellasNQRZVȴUVWKDQGDERXW
Ȋ&RXQWU\VSHFLȴFHYLGHQFHLVVRPXFKPRUHSRZHUIXOZKHQGULYLQJ international collaboration: having been appointed to
for change in policy—especially for under prioritized diseases,” Bibi South Africa from his previous role in the Middle East,
says. “Local evidence on the burden of disease is critical to shaping KHZDVEDVHGLQ'XEDLIRUWKHȴUVWȴYHPRQWKVȊ,ZDV
healthcare policies and looking to improving outcomes to enable used to routinely communicating with people in Algeria,
universal coverage.” Morocco, Lebanon, etc.,” McKay explains. “But to take on a
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one country—except me—was a new experience.”
RIWKHSRSXODWLRQLVUXUDO+HHQYLVLRQVDIXWXUHZKHUHQR5ZDQ-
dan should have to walk more than 30 minutes to access quality “We would have never managed to create vaccines as
primary healthcare. “The Ministry of Health, in collaboration with quickly as we did without collaboration and partner-
a local NGO (Society for Family Health Rwanda) and Abbott, ships within the sector,” says Rhulani Nhlaniki, CM for
built eight second-generation health posts that bring primary care 3ȴ]HU and President of IPASA. “All I can say is that the
to local communities. As a result of this initiative, more people 3ȴ]HU%LR17HFKYDFFLQHUHVXOWHGIURPFROODERUDWLRQDV
have gone to the new health posts for general check-ups, antenatal was the AstraZeneca partnership with Oxford University.
care, wound care, family planning and counseling and other basic There are many more examples to prove my point.”
For over 130 years MSD has been inventing for life, bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many
of the world’s most challenging diseases in pursuit of our mission to save and improve lives.
But innovating to create lifesaving medicines and vaccines is not enough if those who need them most
can’t access them.
That is why, since 2013, in partnership with GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, we have been supporting national
efforts across sub-Saharan Africa to vaccinate girls between the ages of 9 to 13 years old against the
Human papillomavirus (HPV) - one of the leading causes of cervical cancer.
Today, with programmes in over 14 countries across the continent and growing, we continue to make a
meaningful contribution towards the World Health Organization’s Cervical Cancer Elimination Strategy
which aims to have 90% of girls vaccinated against HPV by 2030.
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ȉ:HGRQDWHGDSSUR[LPDWHO\PLOOLRQUDQGWRYDULRXV
RUJDQL]DWLRQVLQWKHFRXQWU\ȊVD\VShelley HornerCEO of
Novartis South Africa.
But beyond relieving some of the hardest-hit households with PPE nent where infrastructure does not always allow us to access remote
or food parcels, “we’re partnering on an ongoing basis with the areas,” Khoele says. “We are very focused on e-health and fem-tech
Clicks Helping Hand Trust,” adds Horner, “through which we have and we believe these two will transform the future of healthcare
donated over 9,000 reusable sanitary pads for low-income families delivery in Africa.”
LQWKHJUHDWHU*DXWHQJDUHDEHQHȴWWLQJDURXQGJLUOVGXULQJ
“At a local level, it’s paramount to care for my team,” says
the pandemic.”
Bertrand Chane-Sam of 6DQGR]. “It is through them that
Other than philanthropic contributions, Novartis developed strategic we are able to deliver our products and ensure business
partnerships to enhance access, and “very successfully created a continuity,” Chane-Sam adds, including recent partner-
GLJLWDOHQYLURQPHQWIRURXUȴHOGIRUFHWKURXJKWHFKQRORJ\ODXQFK- VKLSVWRȴOOJDSVLQYDFFLQHPDQXIDFWXULQJFDSDFLW\Ȋ2XU
ing new drugs virtually in the country using Zoom, webinars, MS &(25LFKDUG6D\QRUKDVDOVRFRPPLWWHGWRIUHH]LQJSULFHV
Teams or other platforms,” Horner says. Ȋ:HXSVNLOOHGRXUȴHOGIRUFH of certain vital medicines since the beginning of 2020.”
and our CRA’s, who engaged directly with patients and healthcare
Globally, ClinigenȇVVWUDWHJ\LVWRDSSURDFKVSHFLȴFSDWLHQWV
professionals. Our clinical trials were never once at risk during the
and provide access to medication that isn’t available in a
pandemic, thanks to those partnerships.”
given market. “Our business is to reach out to small bio-
“We can’t do it on our own,” agrees Zwelethu Bashman, MD tech companies and partner with them,” says MD Carel
of MSD for South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. “We Bouwer. “We do the distribution and supply chain, give
partner with community-based organizations as well as them medical support, quality support and pharmacovigi-
nurse-run institutions within the communities, and we lance support,” Bouwer explains. “We ensure the development of
take things a step further by upskilling with technology the product and that it reaches the customers; we have agreements
and social media,” Bashman explains, citing the example to provide the medications and access to those treatments, approach-
of a recent HPV campaign where a single doctor reached ing both new products and old products with new registrations.”
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“We must make a greater effort to engage with the end customers,” science and African need,” says 6NKXPEX]R 1JR]ZDQD,
Bashman insists, “to share information and education and not always CEO of Kiara Health. “We partnered with the people who
leave our health up to Dr. Google!” developed ventilators, and we have two partnerships with
locally developed products. We want to meet the need
Abofele Khoele faced a unique challenge as MD for Or-
with quality and the demand with healthcare products
ganon: not only was the company spun off from MSD in
in aid of the health of South Africans,” says Ngozwana, and
the middle of the pandemic, Khoele helmed the women’s
adds “ultimately we see ourselves as a player that can play a
health specialist totally remotely. “Collaboration is vital,
small but meaningful role in advancing the agenda of localization
and as a 2021 startup we leverage technology in our conti-
and local innovation.”
OUR PURPOSE
IS TO REIMAGINE
MEDICINE TO IMPROVE
AND EXTEND
PEOPLE’S LIVES.
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which...
Africa. “Being a small to poverty alleviation and economic stability.”
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and access to medicine. “These are fundamen- I want everybody back!”
Source: IFPMA
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Ursula Myles, GM of Takeda: “An sleeves and doing the best you can in a changing organizations. The dashboard is extensive,
important lesson learnt internally environment! The situation is changing con- measuring all the elements of Covid-19 with
was to stay connected, to pivot to stantly, so basically you have to navigate it as information per province, per region; we look
become more digital savvy, have it comes—the making and breaking of rules, at new infections, hospital admissions, severe
information available, and keep all and deal with all that must be dealt with when illness and mortality. We are constantly iterat-
lines of communication open. Embracing digital it comes to South African business, the Depart- ing and building on this, as we now enter the
platforms and various ways of communications ment of Health, and the Director General of phase of measuring and managing vaccination.
was key for business continuity but to also make Health.” We are closely tracking the non-Covid related
sure that our people, patients and customers healthcare utilization, because Covid-19 has ef-
continued to feel supported.” Sandra Orta, GM for Roche fectively squeezed out other parts of the health-
Diagnostics: “We had to act very care system. Aside from the usual measures
Shelley Horner Country Presi- quickly and all together – no one of productivity and health of our people, we
dent NOVARTIS SA: “The world alone could handle the pandemic have all these added complexities of tracking
KDVFKDQJHGZHKDYHWREHȵH[LEOH – and we need everyone: the government, the epidemic diseases which we do now on a d -
agile, resilient and learn to be digi- private sector, suppliers, etc., not competing but to-day basis.”
tal savvy and to engage with a virtual each of us bringing our best in aid of the coun-
ecosystem. Novartis has a company culture with try. From March 1st to April 14th, we gained
three important legs, i) being inspired, ii) being UHJXODWRU\DSSURYDOIRURXU3&5WHVWZLWKRWKHU If you had to create a Master in
curious and iii) being unbossed. The integra- suppliers getting support soon after. We couldn’t 3DQGHPLF$GPLQLVWUDWLRQZKLFKVNLOOV
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LPSRUWDQFHGXHWRWKHK\EULGDUWLȴFLDOGLJLWDO It was not easy to get products in, and what “Empathy, adaptability and communicati .
environment we all have had to adapt to. The we got was never enough, as resources went 2020 and 2021 have been years of learning
culture gives us a sense of belonging.” to other countries as well. Collabo- ra- for us all, years where we had to change our
tion was fundamental.” business models and adapt to working virtu-
Eyong Ebai, General Manag- ally. From 2020 onwards, our customers and
er of Sub-Saharan Africa GE Jonathan Broomberg, CEO of Vi- stakeholders have different expectations and
Healthcare: “The ability to bring tality Health International: “We a different understanding of what is possible.
in human or technical resources did a huge amount of ground work Going forward, I see a hybrid model with a
or components equipment from in communication, on vaccination, on modeling, combination of virtual and face-to-face inter-
overseas cannot be taken for granted, and on data collection. There has been an emerg- actions becoming the norm,” says Rhulani
DQGVRPHIRUPDOORFDOH[SHUWLVHLVQHFHVVDU\WR ing trend around the relevance and utilization Nhlaniki, CM for 3ȴ]HU
survive. The pandemic taught a lot of companies of health data pools: the emergence of Big Data
that localization strategy is critical for long term insights and related digital engagement has been “Critical thinking and agility. Critical thinking
success. Another lesson was in resilience — and accelerated by Covid.” allows to dissect problems and gives a person
the ability for teams to work together as a fam- the ability to take a step back and think through
ily to overcome tremendous obstacles. I am Dr. Ryan Noach, CEO of Discov- problems considering both the positive and
out there with my teams, looking for solutions ery Health: “Early in the pandem- negative impact in an ecosystem and track that
collectively. And despite being very stressful, ic, using our rich internal data impact to see if the potential outcome is aligned
being in a challenging situation was my element, sources complemented with national with what the solution aims at. Secondly, agility:
having to change, pivot and adjust to and international data, we developed measures we have gone too far developing a new muscle
doing things differently.” and dashboards to closely track the COVID-19 and we are in a far better place than we were
evolution. The dashboard is now released daily. PRQWKVDJRȋVKDUHVZwelethu Bashman
Ivan and Lynette Saltzman, Dis- It has become visible and traveled all over South from MSD South Africa
Chem: “It’s about rolling up your Africa in both healthcare and non-healthcare
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FORBES AFRICA
ENTREPRENEURS
A Billion For A Billion

The future of the world is linked to the
future of Africa and this tech giant is
investing in it to enable startup successes.
BY PAULA SLIER AND SASHA STAR
G
OOGLE ANNOUNCED IN EARLY OCTOBER THAT
it would be investing $1 billion into Africa over the next
five years. This is to focus on improving connectivity
and enable startups to flourish. The move is hardly the
first but a reaffirmation of its commitment in Africa which it has
been a part of for 14 years.
“If you look at sub-Saharan Africa, it’s home to 1.1 billion people,
most of them very, very young. But only about 300 million people use Tunji Adegbesan, Founder
the Internet on a regular basis,” reveals Google’s sub-Saharan Africa of Gidi Mobile
Managing Director, Nitin Gajria. “So there’s about 800 million people
that have never experienced its power. Our goal with this billion-dollar
investment is really to play some role in hopefully building a vibrant improving the lives of those on the continent.
Internet ecosystem on the continent.” The Nigerian startup enables low-income students to access online
In Gajria’s view, a key aspect of the ecosystem is emerging startups learning through its app, allowing them to attend classes on a variety of
and the impact they can make. “I believe that no-one is better placed subjects and test their understanding through game-like modules.
to solve some of Africa’s most profound challenges than young startup “In the West, education has traditionally been the thing that has
founders, young developers and the startup community in general.” helped people grow and lift them up. The problem we have in the
One of the startups that Google has taken under its digital wing is developing world is that the people who have the greatest need to be
Food For Mzansi. The initiative, which recently turned three, focuses lifted up are precisely the people who cannot afford quality education,”
on South Africa’s agriculture sector, offering a platform for farmers states founder Tunji Adegbesan who has been teaching teenagers since
to “grow” their communities by sharing their stories, news, opinions, he was one himself.
career opportunities, and even recipes. Gidi now has access to expertise and has helped to create STEM
“We wanted to create a citizen journalist network — to upskill content that relies on gaming technology, rather than conventional
people and train them in basically everything from media ethics, to how learning. By participating in tournaments and quests, users find
to get stories and tell stories,” explains co-founder Kobus Louwrens. themselves engaging with the subject matter and actually having fun
The tech company facilitated the Sinelizwi remote training doing so.
program that equipped 62 journalists with the skills and mentorship While a wealth of exciting ideas are springing forth from Africa’s
required to find sources and develop stories. depths, real challenges still stand in the way of ensuring that all
Although it began as an in-person workshop in the rural Eastern citizens can benefit from them.
Cape province, like many projects, it was forced online by the Covid-19 “There remain challenges with connectivity — whether it’s the
pandemic and was thereafter conducted over WhatsApp. cost of a smartphone, network coverage, data speeds, data costs —
“We are still fairly young in terms of our state of development and these are all real, tangible, meaningful challenges that the lay person
Google coming aboard with support and funding definitely fast-tracked on the street faces,” Gajria admits.
that for us,” Louwrens shares. Google is laying the Equiano subsea cable along the west coast of
“There was a vast information exchange and our team received a lot Africa.
Photo supplied
of experience in regards to structuring a much more sustainable project As Gajria states, “Anyone who is looking at Africa has to realize
than I think would have been possible without the input from those the potential and opportunity that exists. I can’t help but believe
experts.” that the future of the world is inextricably linked to the future of
Gidi Mobile is another startup that Google has identified as the continent.”

‘I Haven’t Seen A Day
Of Peace In My Life’
Faced with an uncertain present, women and girls in
Afghanistan hope the new Taliban regime will ease the
restrictions on them and that the international community
will intervene. For now, their only option is to stay strong
and reconcile their dreams with the current reality.
BY PAULA SLIER WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SASHA STAR
Afghan women on a street in Ghazni

City in the province of Ghazni, on
November 13, 2021

FORBES AFRICA
FOCUS | WOMEN IN AFGHANISTAN
I
N A CRUMBLING ONE-ROOM APARTMENT IN
Kabul’s Old City, two 20-something sisters and their
45-year-old mother are smoking cannabis laced with
heroin. They don’t look up as we enter awkwardly,
following our translator to sit on the far end of the carpet.
I count eight children, the youngest of whom is just
three years old. Much to the amusement of the smoking
women, one of their daughters, a 12-year-old, takes a few
puffs of a discarded joint to show us that she too knows
how to smoke.
The Chindawol neighborhood was once home to
educated and elite Afghans. But over the years since
the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in late December 1979,
its streets and alleyways have been swarmed by mostly
illiterate and low-skilled people.
There is no central sewage system and the putrid smell
of waste drips from tired buildings. Outside, donkeys
gnaw on bits of trash lying in the streets and snotty-nosed
children dip buckets into dirty water that runs down the
sandy pavements. They use the filthy liquid to wash parked I’ve had a lot of personal
cars in a bid to earn a few pennies. Not one traffic light losses over the past 40
works in the country’s capital city, Kabul.
The older woman whose lined face resembles that of years of war, but I’ve never
an 80-year-old, opens a sack of rice riddled with mice been as hopeless and
droppings that a neighbor gave them. The wide-eyed
children stare. The translator explains they haven’t eaten
helpless as I am right now.
for four days. As I wrap up the interview, the 12-year-old – Naheed Samadi Bahram
whispers in a choked voice that her mother tried to sell her.
Raw with pain, she spits out the words. She recalls how
her mother took her to the bazaar and after the daughter the day. According to the United Nations, the new regime
understood what was happening, she started screaming. It doesn’t have the funds to provide food and other basic
drew the attention of an old man who scolded her mother, essentials to the population.
The result is that more than half – a record 22.8 million
people – will go hungry. In a barefaced attempt to survive,
In a barefaced attempt to a growing number of families are choosing to sell their
children. The mother of the 12-year-old had hoped to receive
survive, a growing number $300 for her daughter.
of families are choosing to This is the second time the Taliban is in power in
sell their children. Afghanistan. The group first seized control in 1996 from the
retreating Soviet army. They were ousted five years later
with the arrival of American and NATO troops. History,
gave her a few dollars and sent them home. Now as long many fear, is about to repeat itself.
as the girl spends her days going from house-to-house Locals remember only too clearly the repression they
begging, her mother has promised not to sell her. She then faced under the Taliban then. Women were not allowed to
stretches out her palm to me… work, study or appear in public without fully covering their
Sadly, this story is not that uncommon. body and accompanied by male escorts. Those who violated
Since the capture of Afghanistan in August by the the organization’s strict interpretation of Islamic law were
Taliban, a fundamentalist political and military movement, imprisoned, publicly flogged and even executed.
the situation in the country has reportedly deteriorated by Naheed Samadi Bahram was born in Soviet-occupied

also heart-breaking that the world is quiet. There is a
humanitarian crisis in the country and nobody is talking
about it.”
Samadi Bahram fears she’ll risk the safety of her staff
in Afghanistan if she says too much. Despite desperately
trying to get them out of the country before the Taliban’s
deadline for evacuations expired, she failed.
“We tried very hard and there were a few times that we
had planes at the airport waiting for them. Our staff were
outside the airport gates in buses. But nobody opened the
gates for them. One time our staff waited on the buses for
about 27 hours.”
Now the Taliban is back and despite branding itself as
the “new Taliban”, its interim cabinet is comprised entirely
I think that at the end of the day of men. The entity decreed that all working women and
female students must stay at home until it’s deemed “safe”
they are pragmatic and they will for them to venture out. Claiming it’s only a temporary
see the need to allow women into measure, the group still has to set out a timeline for when
the situation will change.
parts of society and parts of public As a result of the law, thousands of Afghan women
life. But I also think that they will have gone into hiding for fear of retribution. Despite
announcing amnesty for all former government workers,
keep a tight grip on things and one of the first things that the Taliban did was to open
that is disturbing and unfortunate prisons across the country.
and violates human rights. Female judges are now amongst those receiving daily
– Devon Cone, senior advocate at death threats from the men they once incarcerated. The
irony of them being stuck at home while the criminals they
Refugees International put away roam free is not lost.
What does the future hold for Afghan women, at least
80% of whom don’t even have identification documents.
Afghanistan. When she was 10 years old, an explosion After all, it wasn’t until 2020 that the government
in Kabul killed her mother. She and her family fled to approved a law allowing Afghan women to list their names
neighboring Pakistan where, by the age of 18, she was on their children’s birth certificates.
teaching English to Afghan women in Peshawar. “It’s very difficult for women to get out of Afghanistan.
Today, she heads the New York office of the non-profit Air travel is virtually impossible for most of them and right
Women for Afghan Women, the largest women’s rights now land travel is not consistent. Different provinces are
organization in the world catering to Afghan citizens. If being run by different Taliban leaders and restrictions are
anyone understands the life of a refugee, it is her. being implemented in different ways,” says Devon Cone,
“I haven’t seen a day of peace in my life,” reflects senior advocate at Refugees International, an independent
Samadi Bahram. “I’ve had a lot of personal losses over the humanitarian organization advocating for better support
past 40 years of war, but I’ve never been as hopeless and for displaced and stateless people. Cone authored a report
helpless as I am right now. And it’s not just me. I’ve talked issued in October in which she suggested that while the
with many Afghans and they all feel the same way. People international community needs to understand the Taliban’s
haven’t been able to access their money in the bank. restrictions on women, frontline staff need to be female if
Girls are not being allowed to go to school. The boys who they are actually to reach Afghan women.
attend, don’t even study for an hour because the majority “Let’s say a woman wants to get an ID or a passport. You
of teachers are female and they’re not allowed to teach. think she’s going to approach a Taliban office, especially
All female doctors, engineers, attorneys and judges if she’s trying to escape an abusive family? It’s just not
have to stay at home. It’s really heart-breaking. And it’s feasible...

FORBES AFRICA
FOCUS | WOMEN IN AFGHANISTAN
“I do think, though, that as time goes on and the dust

settles, the Taliban will recognize that if you only allow a
woman to see a female doctor but you don’t allow women
to work, then women are not going to get healthcare and
they are going to suffer. And if you don’t allow women to
go to school, they will not be educated to be those doctors
in the future.”
While Cone envisions the humanitarian situation
getting worse, she thinks that the Taliban might ease
their restrictions on women to allow the society to
function.
“There’s a domino effect with all these decisions that
the Taliban are making. I think that at the end of the day
they are pragmatic and they will see the need to allow
women into parts of society and parts of public life. But
I also think that they will keep a tight grip on things and
that is disturbing and unfortunate and violates human
rights.”
No one should be too surprised by the Taliban’s return It just seems like it’s going to
to power. Even after the group’s ousting in 2001, its turn into darkness...
supporters, especially those in rural areas, never budged.
– Shabnam Mobarez, captain of
The American strategy to strengthen Afghan security
forces, built and trained over two decades at a cost of $83
the Afghanistan women’s national
million, failed miserably. football team
The former head of a local radio station who has
gone into hiding and asked for his name not to be used,
said the solution would have been for the United States Denmark, was invited to play for the national side. But she
to send less troops to Afghanistan and let them police declined, choosing instead to represent her native country.
the borders to prevent supplies reaching the Taliban The Afghan squad was formed in 2007 and gave Mobarez and
especially from Pakistan and Iran. All the money directed her friends a sense of power. But the tables have turned and the
to security would have been better spent helping villagers 26-year-old now feels powerless to reassure her teammates that
Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images; Photos supplied
build up their own defense systems. everything will be alright.

I remember once visiting an American air-force base After the Taliban took over, Mobarez urged the world football
where the foreign pilot was boasting about training governing body, FIFA, to intervene and save those players who
Afghan colleagues and how much their efforts were had gone into hiding for fear that they would be killed. Many
appreciated by the local population. Later, two Afghan were eventually evacuated to Australia.
pilots confessed they couldn’t wait for the Americans to “It just breaks my heart that they were fighting through so
leave. many small battles; now it’s almost like the game is over. As I see
But some of that American influence lingers. An it right now there is a very small amount of light and it seems
estimated 11 million Afghan females are under the age of like it’s always going out. It just seems like it’s going to turn into
25 and grew up believing they could create a future for darkness for the women of Afghanistan. They will be forced to
themselves on their own terms. cover up themselves from top to toe in black. That’s my image for
“They will need to figure out how much they should the Afghan woman – dark and black.”
push back against the Taliban and how much they need Mobarez admits to feeling a sense of guilt that she was able to
to submit to some of the restrictions. Reconciling their leave Afghanistan all those years ago, but she still draws strength
hopes and dreams with the current reality is their biggest from the courageous women left behind.
challenge,” points out Cone. “I think the women in Afghanistan are made of stone and they
One of those young women is Shabnam Mobarez, the really stand up for themselves. They realize that if they don’t,
captain of the Afghanistan women’s national football team. they won’t be able to dream or give an image of a strong woman
She learned to play football with boys in the streets without to their daughters. That’s bravery for me. That’s even braver
her parents knowing and, after her family emigrated to than a soldier in war.”

Opibus’ fleet of electric motorcycles
outside its Nairobi plant
Electric
Dreams:
East Africa
On The Move
Electric Vehicles (EV) are fast becoming “If you look at what boda riders take home, they actually work 12-15
a mainstay of daily commutes around the hour days... it’s very competitive and they take very little home. I only
began to appreciate this when I started our research, two years ago. We
world. From battery-powered vehicles realized that one of the reasons for that was increasing fuel prices and...
to electric public buses, we are on the huge maintenance costs for the engine. Going with an EV [motorcycle]
precipice of a revolution in the automotive they are immediately saving upwards of 40% of petrol and even more
industry. Africa is not excluded in this new on maintenance,” says Rishi Kohli, CEO and one of the founders of Fika
movement with burgeoning sectors looking Mobility.
to change the way African cities move – Born out of a passion to make an impact in all his ventures, as has
been the theme of Kohli’s entrepreneurial career, Fika Mobility is on
and breathe! FORBES AFRICA looks at how the road to doing just that. His bikes are renewable end-to-end, with
the EV market is moving in East Africa. solar-powered charging stations taking advantage of Kenya’s sunlight
BY MARIE SHABAYA hours. They cost approximately $1,200, equivalent in price to local fuel-
powered alternatives and are inclusive of a battery pack which can be
swapped, for even more efficiency for the fast-moving boda business, at
one of their branded charging stations.
I
N THE QUIET TOWN OF RUIRU, IN KIAMBU COUNTY, As this global sector develops, Africa is still lagging behind but the
15 miles east of Nairobi, a quiet revolution is underway. Fika movement is promising.
Mobility, a startup within Kenya’s budding electric vehicle Countless countries within the continent rely on used car imports,
sector, has been assembling electric motorcycles there for most of which are at least seven years or older. The age of these vehicles
Photos supplied
almost two years now. These early prototypes are currently in use has contributed to rising air pollution in Africa’s cities.
around the town and parts of Nairobi, where boda boda, commuter This is costly both for health and economic growth with a recent
and freight motorbike riders, are seeing massive changes to their United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimating that
bottomline due to the energy efficiency of the electric bikes. cities, across the continent, are losing an estimated 2.7% of GDP,

FORBES AFRICA
AUTOMATION
implementing now in public transport and commercial vehicles, we

go for them because of their high initial impact which motivates the
high initial costs [of conversion]. We take old vehicles and take out the
engine and the fuel tank and replace it with a large battery and control
system at the front and replace batteries where the fuel tank was. This
gives older used vehicles a new cleaner, efficient and cost-effective
life,” says Albin Wilson, Chief Marketing Officer at Opibus.
From there, we started working The company, like Fika Mobility, also seized on the growing
with governments on what kind opportunity for electric motorbikes in the East African market, using
their expertise in conversion technology to add to their product line.
of policies we need to encourage Hot off the heels of the start of COP26, Opibus announced the closure
cleaner, more efficient vehicles of a funding round that raised $7.5 million, the largest investment seen
in sub-Saharan Africa’s still growing EV sector, to date. Some of that
including electric mobility. fund will bolster production of their motorcycle range which might
– Jane Akumu, Programme Officer at set them on the road to being a leader within that market segment.
UNEP’s Sustainability Mobility Unity “We’ve launched a total of 170 [motorbikes], in pilots, and we’re
looking to supplement [production] with the new funding we’ve
recently raised,” he says.
annually, due to rising fuel emissions. At the same time, worsening However, as it currently stands, despite ongoing upward mobility
air pollution has caused over 176,000 deaths per year, according to a for the sector, policy bottlenecks, both at the port and within the
2012 report from the World Health Organization. market, may hinder future growth. This is the view Alexander
Another concern is policy development within the sector. Koerner, Programme Officer at UNEP Sustainability Unit, takes.
According to Jane Akumu, Programme Officer at UNEP’s “There are areas of regulation that need to be updated in order to
Sustainability Mobility Unity, there are efforts underway to aid the incentivize this market. These markets need to be ready to receive
transition to better fuel economy across the region. these vehicles. There are very simple things, for example, the
“We’ve been supporting the sub-region since 2010 mainly paperwork you need to fill when you import a vehicle that needs to
from one of the projects that we have as part of the Global Fuel be adapted to electric vehicles. Depending on how the countries are
Economy initiative to support countries to incentivize the import of taxing these vehicles, there needs to be a tax base like a customs value
more efficient vehicles. We support countries like Kenya, Uganda, for EV, based on realistic values from the origin country. These need
Rwanda... to look at what kind of vehicles were being imported into to be based on their country of origin... to determine the value [of
that region... many of them were very old, some of them over 20 years tax],” he explains.
old being imported into the region. From there we started working Outside of customs regulations, he also notes other aspects that
with governments on what kind of policies we need to encourage would allow for an enabling policy environment. At the higher-level,
cleaner, more efficient vehicles including electric mobility.” this means policymakers ruling on the types of EVs that they would
This included a collaboration with Kenya’s industrial standards want on their country’s roads, infrastructure and regulation on
bureau, KEBS, to spell out some early policy standards for the charging, and matching these to the standards in the country of origin
importation of some of these vehicles as well as those manufactured for imported vehicles.
within the country. This movement also included the licensing of However, the onus isn’t just on policymakers alone to make this
local manufacturers within the EV sector to convert fuel buses, work. Returning to Kohli, and his vision for electric motorbikes in
traditionally used in the tourism industry, to electric power. Kenya, he reveals that private sector players also must have a say in
One of the two companies certified to do this in early 2020 how the sector should be regulated as it grows.
was Opibus, a Swedish-owned EV company based in the heart of “This whole thing has to come [together] as a circle. There has
Nairobi’s industrial district. to be alignment from everybody; us, as operators, private and public
Founded in 2017, the company has a bold vision for African sector [as well]... and I think we will make traction and [change] will
commuters, placing themselves in the heart of the market just as come,” he says.
it was taking off. With a goal to make EVs more accessible to mass On that note, East Africa’s EV sector looks to be growing from
market consumers, Opibus has a vision to lower costs and simplify boom to boom, regardless of policy barriers and the strained
deployment for these vehicles, across Africa. However, for now, their economic environment that the Covid-19 pandemic has ushered in.
impact is mostly felt in East Africa. Looking forward, if all things stay constant, it might even shape up to
“We have a test production line, which is the first iteration of be the new darling of investors across the continent and the world for
[our] production lines... we have conversion systems which we are years to come.

The Future
In Motion
The six-month Expo 2020 bringing together 192
countries to Dubai that opened on October 1 is exploring
opportunities for partnerships between Africa and the
Middle East. Get a load of barista bots that make coffee
and tell jokes, do calligraphy or tai-chi, and ones that bring
Beethoven’s work to life through performance.
BY NAFISA AKABOR
A
S EXPO 2020 DUBAI ENTHRALS Madueke added that it offers the opportunity to
the world with the theme showcase the continent’s commitment to sustainable
Connecting Minds and Creating development aligning with the AU agenda, as well as
the Future through three main explore potential partnerships required for the continent’s
districts: sustainability, mobility, economic transformation.
and opportunity, in the glistening “Our message is simple: Africa is ready and open for
Middle Eastern city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), business. We are going to utilize this platform to tell the
how is Africa a part? African story to the world the way it really is and project the
The African Union (AU) took to the stage in October Africa we want through the marketing of our Agenda 2063
when the event opened focusing on Disaster Risk and and what it entails.”
Reduction to promote its implementation of Agenda He added that the AU wants to position Africa as a place
2063, the continent’s master plan to transform into a for secure investment, with a view to fulfilling the mandate
global powerhouse of the future. of its agenda, and the possibility of even hosting an edition
Dr Levi Uche Madueke, the AU’s Expo Commissioner of the World Expo.
General, said at the official event that the engagement Meanwhile, South Africa is being showcased under the
will throw light on health, infrastructure and ‘Think South Africa, Think Opportunity’ theme, focused on
industrialization, ICT, gender, security and governance, job creation and economic growth, led by the Department
trade and investment, agriculture, and more. of Trade, Industry and Competition, along with government

FORBES AFRICA
AFRICA – MIDDLE EAST
For the first time in the 170-year

history of World Expos, every
stakeholders, private and business
African nation is participating, AI, big data, robotics, machine
sectors, and educational institutions. each with its own pavilion, while learning and autonomous
South Africa is in the Opportunity
District. According to the Government
the African Union is also hosting transport.
Singapore, a city that ranked
Communication and Information its own stage at Expo 2020. number one globally on the
System (GCIS), startup businesses Institute for Management
representing fintech, creatives, health, Development’s Smart City Index
agro-processing, the circular economy, green energy and other 2020, is showcasing a 1,550m² sustainable ‘city in nature’ with
sectors are traveling to the expo to connect with global investors to a self-sufficient ecosystem to achieve net-zero energy over six
unlock business opportunities. months at the expo, using solar panels, the management of
The expo will showcase a range of new technologies. energy and desalination of saline groundwater.
Photos by GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images)
Expect to see bots serving food to guests, barista bots making Commissioner-General of the Singapore pavilion, Larry Ng,
coffee and telling jokes, doing calligraphy or tai-chi, and ones that said at the event that the Covid-19 pandemic has shown how
bring Beethoven’s work to life. quickly it can change the way people live, work and play.
There will also be patrol-bots with facial recognition and “In the face of critical challenges and disruptions facing
real-time thermo cameras to safeguard areas and remind guests to the world today, it’s important for nations to come together
observe social distancing. and find a way forward to build cities that sensitively adapt to
The Mobility District is centered around autonomous vehicles, tomorrow’s challenges.”
space exploration, the merging of physical and virtual worlds, and a Apart from tech, the future of travel is being showcased
330m long mobility track in action. by the UAE’s national carrier Emirates, offering visitors an
A new tech that launched at the expo is by e-hailing service immersive onboard experience including virtual reality and
Hala that predicts how many taxis are needed and dispatches multi-sensory installations. It features tech for its next-gen
them automatically to the site, to “optimally balance supply and aircraft, robotic arms, the advances made for engine propulsions
demand”. The result is visitors being able to book a taxi via an app and thrust to reduce emissions, and the science of flight.
with no waiting times. The future is truly being set in motion in this dusty
The pavilion also features smart cities brought together through emirate.

OUT OF
Is the metaverse the future of the internet? It’s already here
with Big Tech banking on it, and it just might unlock untold
economic opportunities for Africa.
BY TIANA CLINE
THIS WORLD
I
T FEELS LIKE SCI-FI WHEN WE TALK ABOUT
it. If you think about the internet that we look at,
the metaverse is going to be an internet that we
are inside of,” says Derya Matras, Facebook’s Vice
President for Africa, the Middle East and Turkey.
“Over the last few years, we’ve been observing social
communication getting more and more immersive. I
remember being in high school and dreaming of having
a phone that I could take with me everywhere so I
could talk to my best friend. Even being able to talk to
my parents over video felt like sci-fi twenty years ago. The metaverse is going to
It’s important that we observe where the technology is give a lot of opportunities to
moving already.”
Matras explains that the metaverse will be made up of Africa but the connectivity
a set of digital experiences that seamlessly interconnect. has to be there.
A deeper and wider virtual reality (VR) that is far more – Derya Matras
than social media and video games. This is one of the
reasons Facebook changed its company name to Meta at
the end of October 2021.
“Facebook is primarily known as a social media Matras believes that the metaverse has the potential
company but we actually define ourselves as a tech to unlock huge economic opportunities for Africa. As a
company that has the mission of connecting people and company, Facebook has already made some significant
businesses. As social technology evolves, we will also,” investments into bringing more affordable broadband to
she says. “Obviously, the metaverse is not there yet and the continent. They’re in the process of building 2Africa,
it’s going to take a good ten years to build it all together as the longest undersea cable in the world which will
an industry.” effectively connect three continents – Africa, Europe and

FORBES AFRICA
TECHNOLOGY | THE METAVERSE
Asia (with plans of going live in 2023).

“The metaverse is going to give a lot of opportunities
to Africa but the connectivity has to be there. And it is the
NFTs: ‘This Is Only The Beginning’
responsibility of tech players like Facebook and telecom
I
operators and governments to build that collectively,” says n an internet-
Matras. While Facebook, as a social media platform, isn’t going enabled virtual
anywhere, what excites Matras the most about the metaverse world, there needs
is its educational implications. to be a way to own
Immersive learning through the use of VR is a field that digital items. Non-
Louise Claassen, an executive fellow at Henley Business fungible tokens (NFTs)
School Africa, is already working on. (And outside of the are already proving
business school, she also spends a lot of time in AltspaceVR, a this is possible. Locally,
social VR platform acquired by Microsoft in 2017.) the debut collection
from artist Norman
“For decades, people have been immersed into the virtual
Catherine fetched
reality space but as individuals. What is happening now is
$53,000 at Africarare,
increasingly, we’re seeing multi-user the first South African
VR environments,” she explains. Zhulik the VR metaverse.
While independent VR social spaces Meebit In November
have been in existence for a number 2021, Nigeria's
Increasingly, of years – many of which already contemporary art fair
have vibrant, thriving communities partnered with Superrare to showcase digital works
we’re seeing – people are now looking into these by African artists such as Linda Dounia and Rendani
multi-user VR environments as business tools and Nemakhavhani.
Collecting NFTs is becoming increasingly popular
in the med-tech space. Research out
environments. of the University of Maryland, for
but what if you could use something you’ve bought
– Louise Claassen example, showed that VR not only online? Created by Larva Labs, Meebits are one of
the first NFT collections to be created as 3D avatars.
increases memory retention, but Avatars are an important part of the metaverse
when used as a learning tool could because they’re what will ultimately represent a
potentially treat memory-related disorders like Alzheimer’s. person, digitally. Microsoft, for example, is adding
“One of the qualities we have in virtual reality is 3D virtual avatars to Mesh, their new collaborative
embodiment, that sense of being present in a different platform which will enable mixed realities within
environment. Your body is responding to where your mind Teams, as part of their metaverse strategy.
believes that you are. There are all sorts of very interesting When the collection of (approximately 20,000
opportunities that this convergence into the metaverse different) Meebits launched in May, it sold out in six
present,” says Claassen. At Henley, Claassen works with VR by hours. And to date, the most expensive Meebit has
been sold for $222.9K.
creating rich immersive experiences for her students and in
“Meebits are algorithmically generated 3D
particular, global case studies that transport them to different
characters linked to NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain.
places to understand different economies: “From a business They are rendered in voxels (or pixels with volume)
school perspective, we believe that it’s important for leaders similar to characters from popular games such as
to have well-developed cultural intelligence and they can Minecraft or Roblox. You can use these NFT characters
only do that if they travel. While physically visiting and being as metaverse avatars, or in games, and virtual reality,”
immersed in different contexts still has tremendous merit, explains Zhulik the Meebit. “If you purchase a Meebit,
what virtual reality does is it democratizes that process so you get the 3D model. You can then take the 3D
more students can go to more locations more frequently.” model and animate the avatar in real time using VR
What the metaverse can bring to education (and many other equipment such as a headset and controllers or a
sectors) is that immersive experience at the click of a button. A full body suit.” Because Meebits have utility as a 3D
avatar, they can be used in various ways which has
digital twin where data is not only visualized, but augmented.
only added to their growing popularity. “For the first
“When we can see each other move in a three-dimensional
Photos supplied
time, we have true digital ownership and I believe we

space, we decode that information in a very different way and are going to see an even bigger wave of creativity and
that’s very powerful,” says Claassen, “it give us a much more innovation in intellectual property. The exciting thing
dynamic experience of the world which is pretty much what about NFTs is that this is only the beginning.”
the metaverse offers, on scale.”

The Community
Platform
FORBES AFRICA
VACCINES ON RAILS
In vast and varied rural South Africa,

Covid-19 vaccines are making their way to
the people by rail. The Transvaco train is
a moving vaccine station delivering virus
protection to communities beyond.
WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY YESHIEL PANCHIA
O
N THE N6 healthcare facilities, like the
highway in the hospitals or clinics,” says Dr
Eastern Cape Paballo Mokwana, Transvaco’s
province of manager, to FORBES AFRICA.
South Africa, “We run on the railway lines,
towards the coastal city of East which makes it easier for
London, the flat dry expanse patients to come through to us
of the highveld begins to give as opposed to going to a normal
way to rolling hills along the hospital.”
shoreline. Mokwana, a physician
The second largest province who originally specialized in
in the country at over 65,000 dentistry, has a passion for
square miles, it’s of a size that public health and has worked
you can’t easily cover on four in the space for over a decade.
wheels. Small in stature, but with
Across an occasional bridge, a commanding presence,
far on the horizon, locomotives her friendly demeanor and
shimmer, chugging along into professionalism can be seen
the rural landscapes, carrying reflected in her interactions
goods and logistical services with staff and patients.
into some of South Africa’s Privatized healthcare
remotest parts. in South Africa is of a high
One such trainset, standard but inaccessible to
christened Transvaco, is a most residents, and doctors like
health innovation on rails. Mokwana strongly believe in
At the time that FORBES making the widest impact they
AFRICA visited in October, can – this is particularly the case
it was parked in the East when it comes to access to rural
London central train station healthcare.
and providing a unique service Access to healthcare in
– vaccination against Covid-19 South Africa is reportedly
Patients are screened and
register to receive their to people who can’t otherwise challenging in general, but
Covid-19 vaccinations access them. particular obstacles in both
aboard the Transvaco train
in East London, October 8 “The Transvaco initiative infrastructure and distance
allows us to offer vaccines to make this worse for rural
patients in rural areas who citizens, reported to be around
do not have easy access to 47% of the population (as per

FORBES AFRICA
VACCINES ON RAILS
Rendzo Marima, chief pharmacist of A nurse prepares

the Transvaco train, retrieves vaccines to administer a
from the specialized freezer on the Covid-19 vaccine
train in East London on October 8 on the train
Stats SA, 2013). Income inequality has a clear tend to have higher levels of infant mortality and lower levels of immunization in
correlation between distance to healthcare particular.
facilities, with the country’s poorest living However, while healthcare infrastructure in rural areas is clearly a challenge both
farthest from public health infrastructure. in terms of development and access, South Africa’s railway infrastructure is the most-
Any historian will tell you that much of this developed on the continent.
geographical policy is a legacy of apartheid Historically driven by an urge to foster easier trade with South Africa’s neighbors,
and the homeland system, which left many and then to link all of the British territories in Africa, much of the existing railway
communities across the country segregated infrastructure is managed by Transnet, a publicly-owned company responsible for the
along racial lines in far-flung parts of the management of rail, port and pipelines in the country.
country. Despite extensive cable theft in recent years which has damaged some of the country’s
This has clear medical consequences railways, rail remains a fundamental means of accessing rural South Africa, with
according to reports – provinces with high thousands of citizens – some 10% of the population – making use of the public railway
rural populations such as the Eastern Cape infrastructure every day.
“One must obviously take into consideration the existing problems faced by the
Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA), but the Transvaco initiative is a great
initiative – the idea of using it to vaccinate and encourage commuters to take the jab is a
great one,” says Zukiswa Vuka of #UniteBehind, a civil society coalition that mobilizes
The Transvaco initiative is around many issues including public transport.
Railway-based healthcare is a novel idea, but not for South Africa, which has run a
a great initiative – the idea similar initiative from Transnet previously with two other trains, christened Phelophepa I
of using it to vaccinate and and Phelophepa II. Commissioned in 1994 and still operating to this day, the Phelophepa
trains render primary healthcare initiatives which include general medical consultations,
encourage commuters to dental, optical, mental health and pharmacy services to rural South Africans by rail.
take the jab is a great one. Transvaco was born with this awareness in mind. Transnet Engineering CEO Ralph
– Zukiswa Vuka of Mills and Transnet CEO Portia Derby were visiting the Phelophepa trains late last year,
#UniteBehind discussing the practicalities of vaccine distribution in a country as vast and varied as
South Africa, and the question of the rural distribution of vaccines came up. Derby was

We took the concept of a
health train and made it
smaller, with 10 coaches,
a light train that could
be hauled by 18-tonne
locomotives anywhere in
the country. The primary
difference were the two
ultra-low vaccine freezers Dr Paballo Mokwana, train manager of the Transvaco vaccination train, in
East London
which had to be imported.
– Transnet Engineering CEO a very long time male-dominated, on
Ralph Mills Breaking Stereotypes
the trains, it’s a 50/50 split… nursing has
On The Move been typically female, we’re seeing those
Dr Paballo Mokwana is currently barriers being broken [on the health
immediately supportive of the suggestion Transvaco’s train manager. Mokwana trains].”
studied medicine at the University of Committed to public health,
– tasking Mills with the practicalities of the
Pretoria, and completed her community Mokwana speaks on the impact of
development of a vaccine-focused trainset.
service in 2013. After performing locum working on the Phelophepa and
“Portia [Derby] asked me if we could build Transvaco trains on both herself and
work for a year and a half, she joined
a vaccination trainset – I said ‘yes we could’ the Phelophepa family and has not left the patients they serve. “For me, it’s joy
immediately…,” says Mills. since. “It’s the first real job I had, and it’s and fulfilment in helping someone who
As it turns out, it wasn’t that difficult. all I’ve done,” she says. can’t afford or access high-end medical
“Transnet has done a project like this Two out of the three Transnet health attention, seeing somebody deserving
before,” says Mokwana. “We have what we trainsets are female-run, which is not of something access it… we know we’ve
call the Phelophepa healthcare trains, which unusual according to Mokwana. “We’ve really made a difference and impacted
offer healthcare services also on the railway broken all of the norms when it comes someone’s life, and for me, that’s
lines, traveling to rural areas that do not have to that. In the medical sector, it was for fulfilling!”
access to healthcare facilities, they offer dental
services and normal healthcare services and
eye care. So when Transvaco came about, it less than nine months, after a trial period of vaccinations through the Phelophepa
built and designed off a pre-existing model trains was a success. At a cost of $1.5 million, the Transvaco trainset makes use of some
that has been tried and tested for over 27 existing carriage systems which helped to reduce costs and keep construction time to a
years. And hence when the need came to minimum.
assist the government in vaccinating people, However, vaccine administration required some specialized differences – specifically
this model was used.” with regard to the storage of the vaccines, which includes two ultra-low temperature
These two trains serve around 360,000 refrigeration systems that allow for the holding of both the single dose Johnson &
persons annually, and when the Covid-19 Johnson vaccine and the two-shot Pfizer vaccine.
pandemic hit, it was a natural progression to Transvaco offers all patients the choice as to which vaccine they receive, something
consider a similar initiative once the vaccines not common at other public health vaccination sites in the country, with the reasoning
became available. It was from this that that since the train is only in each location for two weeks at a time, patients may not be
Transvaco was born. able to easily get their second vaccination shot easily elsewhere.
“The Transnet train, Transvaco, is an “It’s not unique in terms of equipment,” says Mills. “We took the concept of a health
innovation to take the vaccination to people in train and made it smaller, with 10 coaches, a light train that could be hauled by 18-tonne
transport nodes and it will encourage a lot of locomotives anywhere in the country. The primary difference were the two ultra-low
people to vaccinate,” Gauteng Premier David vaccine freezers which had to be imported.”
Makhura said during the launch of the train Working on the Transvaco train offers a different experience of vaccination to both
earlier this year. patients and staff in comparison to standard public healthcare.
The trainset was manufactured over Veteran nurse Bongani Nxumalo, who has worked in state healthcare in pediatrics

FORBES AFRICA
VACCINES ON RAILS
At Rovos Rail, we are pro-vaccination. The more of managing this when it comes to vaccine administration;
“Interacting with so many different people you get to
people in rural areas want to be vaccinated and appreciate and understand how important healthcare services
have access, it’s a good thing, because otherwise are, especially when people do not have easy access to it. We
are able to reach a large number of people who wouldn’t
you might have to travel for a long time to get ordinarily be able to access the vaccination drive.”
access to vaccination in a city clinic. “At Rovos Rail, we are pro-vaccination,” says Brenda Vos,
– Brenda Vos, Communications Manager of Rovos Communications Manager at Rovos Rail, a bespoke rail-tour
Rail, which offers luxury excursions in Africa operator which provides luxury excursions in Africa. “The
more people in rural areas want to be vaccinated and have
access, it’s a good thing, because otherwise you might have
to travel for a long time to get access to vaccination in a city
and labor wards as well as NGOs across the country, has found it clinic.”
to be a personally rewarding experience working on a platform Even Mills was surprised. As part of an internal marketing initiative
that makes contact with South Africans across the country. “It’s to promote vaccination within Transnet, Mills received his first dose of
quite different [from state healthcare] because we’re moving from the vaccine on Transvaco – and due to the experience, so did his entire
station to station, province to province – we are experiencing family. “It’s really the best risk-reduction element we have,” he says.
people with different visions of life… with their own perspectives. “Vaccination is the only thing that will really make a difference,
It’s made us grow as medical staff learning how to manage and otherwise we’ll always be swinging between these waves.” This
deal with patients, especially when it comes to vaccinations,” says plays a particularly important role when it comes to vaccine hesitancy,
Nxumalo to FORBES AFRICA. which is something the staff of Transvaco have had experience
Mokwana holds similar sentiments; appreciating the diversity managing. Meta analyses of Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy in South
of patients that the Transvaco train services and the importance Africa indicate that by and large, South Africans understand the value
A nurse administers a
Covid-19 vaccine on the
Transvaco vaccination
train in East London on
October 8

A maintenance worker
services the Transvaco
vaccination train in East
London, South Africa
and need to become vaccinated against Covid-19; “One of the experiences that stands out for
however, also emergent in these results is that me is with foreign nationals. They are more
urbanicity – that is, the degree to which an area The hum of the receptive to the train,” attests Mokwana.
is urbanized – is an influencing factor in vaccine trainset’s diesel As the numbers of people coming in
acceptance (Cooper et al, 2021). generator reverberates and out of the station due to Transvaco
Hand in hand with the rise of Covid-19 increases, ancillary benefits can be seen in
vaccine hesitancy is of course the massive rise in the background, a the traders and vendors crowding around
of vaccine misinformation, which is something constant reminder of the outside of the station, with their wares
many of the Transvaco visitors have been the electricity crisis still on small tables under umbrellas – snacks,
exposed to. cold drinks and cigarettes are on offer.
“Some people have said that maybe we are gripping the country. These informal traders, battered by
being sent by the government to kill them [with the Covid-19 and the ensuing lockdowns, have taken
vaccine]. There are those who will just tell you, ‘I don’t advantage of the increased traffic around the station.
trust the vaccine’,” says Nxumalo, clearly frustrated. “We are “They tell them after the shot you must have something
a people who love to go off on social media, and people create to drink and rest,” one trader says. “They are buying cold
their own stories. I tell them, ‘do your research, you can’t rely on drinks from me every day, but today the train is going.” As
something that you’ve just been told by someone on social media’.” FORBES AFRICA prepared to depart from the site on a Friday
Though the train’s unique access to rural areas by means of railway afternoon after spending two days with the staff and documenting
infrastructure is certainly one of its advantages, the one aspect that their operations, it is clear that the Transvaco initiative does
seems to draw people in to visit Transvaco for their vaccinations, besides still confront the normative challenges facing public health and
sheer curiosity, is the welcoming nature of the staff. “I only came here vaccination in South Africa.
because I know the people are friendly, and it would be empty The hum of the trainset’s diesel generator reverberates in
compared to the clinics,” says Lena, who hopped on to the train to the background, a constant reminder of the electricity crisis
receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. still gripping the country that Transvaco must guard against,
From East London and having easy access to vaccination at local particularly to protect its precious vaccine stock – this as Mokwana
clinics, Lena decided on Transvaco because of the staff’s reputation speaks candidly of the occasional delays transiting between sites as
for both friendliness and efficiency, something not always the train is held up due to cable theft.
associated with public healthcare in South Africa – this despite her Despite this, as the sun begins to set on the Eastern Cape, new
own fear and hesitation at getting her first shot. “I’m a bit nervous – arrivals still trickle in to get their vaccination shots on the eve of
but it’s mainly because I’m scared of needles.” the weekend when traditionally numbers wane, and one can’t
This reputation for friendliness has also seen a disproportionate help but think that the Transvaco train is one of the innovative
number of foreign nationals making use of the Transvaco sites. approaches to combating the pandemic.

The Together Man In
Regional Cinema
At the cornerstone of contemporary Swahili

cinema, Tanzanian filmmaker Amil Shivji is
adamant about telling stories of contrast
and community and promoting local talent.
BY INAARA GANGJI
F
OR TWO YEARS, TANZANIAN FILMMAKER AMIL
Shivji made the white, windswept beaches of Zanzibar his
home. The island was the location for his film Tug of War
(Vuta N’Kuvute), a “coming-of-age political love story set in
1950s Zanzibar” that he co-wrote, co-produced and directed.
He used local talent and resources for this film that won him
accolades – the film was selected for the Toronto Film Festival
in September.
But that has been the focus of Shivji’s work all along; telling stories
of the working class and the communities he grew up with, at the
cornerstones, called kijiweni in Swahili, where the most interesting Amil Shivji
stories are, where people of all backgrounds and classes cross paths,

FORBES AFRICA
FORBES LIFE | AMIL SHIVJI
I think the future of filmmaking is very,

very exciting in this region right now, and at the Zanzibar International Film Festival and FESPACO, a
because like I mentioned, Swahili film festival in Burkina Faso.
“There’s always a sense of togetherness [in working class
cinema has not been given the justice communities]. There’s always a sense of love, community and
that it deserves… our language is solidarity, whether political, social or economic,” Shivji stresses again.
“It goes against all your business principles – competition and
everything. Language carries our survival of the fittest. So, I think growing up seeing that being taught in
history, our present and our future. schools and then seeing something else in the streets; the dire contrast
has always pushed me towards stories of contradiction. And it always
ends up in a place that’s pushing people together. So, I think for me
and where the personal meets the public. that’s always been something that’s just pulled me towards a story and
Growing up in a lower middle-class neighborhood, Shivji always then you know, just pulling from the stories that exist around you.”
felt the stories of the marginalized were not told enough. But the most important thing for Shivji is for his stories to hark back
For this, he makes a film a year from his production platform, to the past. For Tug of War, he wanted the colonial oppression to seem
Kijiweni Productions. contemporary as state oppression, which according to him, was the
“We just make sure that we keep telling stories in Swahili, case in Tanzania at the time of the film being written and filmed.
with local cast and crew,” says Shivji, who is part of a new wave of “I felt like it was a film that was urgent, to be told right now and at
filmmakers from the region. least from what I’ve heard from the feedback we’ve got so far, the film
“It’s been quite exciting to see [this new wave] grow significantly. feels quite now, and that for me is very, very important.”
But obviously, when I say significantly, it’s still a handful. But this He also wants the stories to feel like they belong to the communities
wave has been very important because it’s not an easier route to take. they are made in, by gaining their trust. Yet, the filmmaker laments
that despite the best intentions, it’s
still an uphill task to produce films in
Tanzania with a local crew and cast.
“We just don’t have enough
people. We’re fighting the same
fights,” he rues.
For example, festival circuits are
being given preference over local
screenings.
Shivji is however hopeful his
efforts will bear fruit one day.
Photos by Kijiweni Productions/Big World Cinema; Photo by Sabri Atigh
“I think the future of filmmaking

is very, very exciting in this region
right now, because, like I mentioned,
Swahili cinema has not been given
This picture and opposite page:
Stills from ‘Tug Of War’ the justice that it deserves… our
language is everything. Language
carries our history, our present and
our future.”
It’s really putting a lot on the line. You spend a couple of years raising True to his cultural mission, his production house has been doing
the kind of finance you need with the risk of not making the film.” more than just cinema.
It’s hard work without the necessary infrastructure to work off, “We have this three-tier approach – it’s production, training,
but filmmakers like Shivji have been adamant to press on. mentorship and exhibition,” says Shivji.
His repertoire includes more stories of class struggle, There are workshops held in Swahili to build capacity in the
perseverance and human dignity; films such as T-Junction, which local creatives to seek opportunities, and set up an infrastructure for
explores the struggle of the informal workers on the streets, sustainable storytelling in Tanzania.
and Samaki Mchangani, which challenges the notion of ‘Africa In his role as a lecturer at the University Of Dar es Salaam, Shivji
Rising’. His work has earned him the People’s Choice Award does the same.
in Zanzibar and Best Director and Best Short Film in Africa. “So, I think we’ve done a lot in the past couple of years. And the
His films have screened in Los Angeles, Seattle, Washington, biggest challenge is really to keep pushing to just maintain some sense
Toronto, Singapore and picked up awards in Tanga, Tanzania, of sanity during the entire process.”

THE NOLLYWOOD
Actor Living His Truth
Life has a way of
imitating art. For Ifan
Ifeanyi Michael, it has
been the other way
round. The Nigerian
celebrity stylist, actor
and filmmaker has
come a long way from
the destitute 10-year-
old he once was.
BY PEACE HYDE
I
FAN IFEANYI
Michael starts
narrating his life story
on a Zoom call from
Lagos, Nigeria. A call
girl, sexual abuse… and it unravels
in ways that could put to shame
movie scripts. But that’s how this
Nigerian actor, director and
brand consultant traversed
seemingly impossible odds
to become the success he is
today.
A FORBES AFRICA
30 Under 30 list-maker in
2021and recipient of the
African Magic Viewers’ Choice
Awards, Michael, at this
interview, talks about what

FORBES AFRICA
FORBES LIFE | IFAN IFEANYI MICHAEL
shaped his life, and is overwhelmed with emotions “The money was really bad at that time but it was good
reliving some of the most traumatic episodes from his for food and daily expenses. I used to move all over the
childhood. place to audition for different roles until I got my first
He just cannot shake them off. break. I reached out to the producer of the movie and told
“I was sexually abused by a barber because I needed him how passionate I was. He told me he had someone
a place to stay and I did not want to be thrown out on else for the role. So, I looked for his address and traveled
the streets. But still, I was kicked out of the house at all the way to find him and I told him and he was so
1AM in the morning,” Michael says starkly. surprised.
Today, he is a living testament that tough times “I didn’t even have a way to go back home so he let
don’t last, but tough people do. He left his home in me sleep in his place and that morning he gave me the
Port Harcourt in Nigeria at the age of 10 to pursue his script for The Evangelist and that was my biggest break in
dream of becoming a filmmaker in Lagos. acting,” says Michael.
“I came to Lagos to meet a marketer to sell my story The hustle didn’t stop there. Michael also began doing
to him. When I got to Lagos, his phone was switched public relations for upcoming music artists by taking their
off and I couldn’t reach him… I didn’t think I was CDs to the local marketplace to create awareness about
going to be duped. I was excited them. The PR hustle landed him a
to showcase my work,” says lucrative gig with a new hotel that
Michael. gave him the capital he needed
He was left stranded, but to finally realize his ambition of
made his way to a popular hotel becoming a filmmaker. Lotana, his
in Lagos frequented by the It was just survival for first feature film, tells the story
film fraternity, hoping to find of a young man who discovers he
someone who would believe in
me. I had nowhere to go. has to offset a huge debt to a loan
his script and help him actualize Am I going back to my shark owed by his father before
his dream. parents’ two-room where his sudden death.
“It was just survival for me. I Michael admits he has no
had nowhere to go. Am I going there was seven of us, or educational background, but
back to my parents’ two-room who am I going to call? managed to carve out a niche
where there was seven of us, or in the Nigerian entertainment
who am I going to call?” industry with nothing but
He vividly remembers some of determination.
the older passengers on the bus And he has many roles.
to Lagos, who asked where his parents were even as As a fashion stylist, he has worked with some of the top
he prayed fervently that they would not take him back celebrities in Lagos. He is also the founder of a publicity
home. management company dedicated to the media and
Once in Lagos, there was no turning back for young entertainment industry.
Michael. He had to make things work. He bumped into “The dream even at that time has always been to live
a lady who was working as a call girl who luckily took my truth in terms of bringing my vision to life. I know I
him in and provided him a temporary place to stay. wanted to be an actor and filmmaker and tell stories and
“In the morning, she would bring us in to sleep and let my story influence people as well. I see things and
in the afternoon, we left so she could get ready for approach situations differently so it has been a major
her clients. She felt sorry for me because I was very motivation. Everything that I went through I just knew I
young. There were times I was not even eating,” recalls was unstoppable,” says Michael.
Michael. Lotana was released in 2016 and went on to win 10
During the day, he would go to every audition in awards out of 13 nominations at the Golden Movie Awards
Photo supplied
town to land roles as an extra to make ends meet. He in Ghana. In 2020 too, he won big for his film Foreigner’s
believed the only way to fulfill his dream of becoming a God. With his eyes firmly set on his next feature film, he is
filmmaker was to have more grit and tenacity than the one of the inspirational young film talents in Nollywood.
other dreamers who wanted to make it in Nollywood. The show must go on.

MELODY MOLALE
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PAST FORWARD
African Luxury Redefined
FORBES AFRICA
FORBES FASHION
Jeunes créateurs, a
concept that came
about in Paris in the
1970s, seems to be
upon us again, with
the emergence of
an almost youthful,
colorful and even
playful flair in the way
designers seem to be
creating now. The shift
arrives just in time for
the festive season as
luxe-lovers emerge out
of prolonged lockdown
and quarantine
modes. A handful
of African designers
are catering to this
newfound freedom
with elaborate, cutting-
edge collections set to
stir a fashion frenzy.
STYLIST: KEABETSWE MAFORA

PHOTOGRAPHY: KATLEGO
MOKUBYANE; NEWKATZ STUDIO
ART DIRECTION: LUCY NKOSI
MAKE-UP: VANESSA UNAMACA;
MAKOLEMADE BEAUTY
LOCATION: THE HOUGHTON HOTEL
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FORBES AFRICA
FORBES FASHION
FESTIVE FINESSE
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FORBES AFRICA
FESTIVE GIFT GUIDE
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GAME-
CHANGER
As coach of the South Sudan women’s national football team,
South African Shilene Booysen is developing the game and making
a difference in the world’s youngest country.
BY NICK SAID
S
OUTH AFRICAN COACH SHILENE BOOYSEN HAS to be closer to home, but once I saw what they were doing, it became
embarked on a career path of a different kind that has seen something I really wanted to do.”
her take on the role of coach of the South Sudan women’s Booysen admits it has been a culture shock that took some getting
national football team, hoping to develop the game for used to, but she quickly adjusted to living in South Sudan.
girls in one of Africa’s poorest countries. “My first impression when I got there… I was shocked to be honest.
Booysen is a hugely respected figure in coaching on the continent I didn’t think South Sudan was as underdeveloped as it is. But once I
having helped South Africa to the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup as started meeting the people, it was such a refreshing thing.
a highly-valued analyst alongside head coach Desiree Ellis. “I think we are spoilt, especially in South Africa, with all the luxuries
Booysen also worked in the best women’s football domestic we enjoy. Going to South Sudan has opened my eyes to the challenges
competition in the world in the same role with National Women’s people have in life. It is a really poor country. I think 80%-90% of
Soccer League side Houston Dash in the United States. people don’t have formal jobs. They sell things on the street.
It might seem strange then that she has taken on a role with “It was a culture shock for me to see what was going on there, but
minnows South Sudan, where she must in essence create a national once I got to meet the people, I was lost … I fell in love with them.
football team from scratch in the full knowledge that there will be “I still feel like that, I’m still excited and passionate about doing
many tough years ahead of big losses and bitter disappointment. what I can to help as many people as I can.”
But for Booysen, this is more than a job, it is a calling, and she is Booysen
living her dream of passing on her football knowledge to those who has worked at a
need it most, rather than being just another coach on the global
South Sudan gained its very high level
professional circuit. independence in 2011, but only with some of
South Sudan gained its independence in 2011, but only played its
first women’s football international in 2019. They have had a handful
played its first women’s football the best players
in Africa and,
of games since then, with Booysen leaving the comforts of her international in 2019. during her
Banyana Banyana role to lead the team in February this year. time in the US,
“Desiree and I had been chatting about me taking up a head some of the best in the world. So what was it like trying to pull together
coaching role, because people just saw me as an analyst,” Booysen a team of players who had barely kicked a ball in organized sport in
tells FORBES AFRICA. their lives?
“I wanted to expand my horizons and challenge myself. I “Coming from an established team like Banyana Banyana and going
started putting out feelers and was alerted to the fact that South to a team where you basically have to teach players to pass the ball in
Sudan was looking for a head coach. the national team … that has been challenging.
“At the time I thought it was not entirely what I wanted, I wanted “But it gives you an opportunity to build a legacy, not for myself but

FORBES AFRICA
FOOTBALL | SHILENE BOOYSEN
for the team. Everything we do is history. Everything we touch is “We need to instill the culture that we want. If you want a
history. Everywhere we go is history.” winning culture, you can’t have toxic people in the team.
Booysen is aware that results will not come for some time, “Rome wasn’t built in a day and they need to understand this
perhaps years, as she brings the players up to the required level, is a process that will take some time. They (her players) must start
but says they are moving forward. She did get a rude awakening thinking about football in a different way.
in her first match in charge against Ethiopia in April. “Every team is ranked higher than us, every team has more
“We lost it 11-0, but it was not about the scoreline, it was about experience than us, every team has had time to work hard and get
the fact that someone wanted to invest in women’s football. to where they are now. We haven’t had that luxury.”
“The South Sudan Football Association has decided that their Booysen only started playing the game at the age of 25, but
women’s program will take on a huge role in developing football would go on to represent South Africa as a goalkeeper.
in the country. “I started as a center-back, but I thought, ‘I am a netballer more
“It is very different to what I have done before, where I than anything, so maybe I can be a goalkeeper’.
have worked with high-level professionals. So I’m going the “Not long after that I was selected for the national squad, but
opposite way of what people might think… but this is what I I tore the ligaments in my knee, which was devastating. I played
was born to do. netball, softball, tennis and swam, I had lots of sport that I took too.
“I love working with these girls, I love seeing the changes in “But when I started playing football, I wanted to know more
them, the differences in their thinking. about the game. I did loads of coaching courses, went to many
“Just telling them that sleep is important (for a professional seminars and was passionate about learning the game.”
athlete), that is the kind of thing they didn’t really understand. She had a 25-year career at a mechanical engineering company
Why nutrition is important, why you can’t eat certain things. before becoming a full-time coach, which she says is a fulfillment
“These girls were shocked at what a fitness test is. It was of her ambition to change people’s lives for the better, in this
like a normal ‘bleep test’ that is done at Under-15 level in other instance through sport.
countries. These were senior players and they battled. “I am the youngest of eight kids. I was also a huge academic,
“They had no idea how to push themselves, the type of which was more important to me. I went into mechanical
Photo supplied
training that is required. But we are starting to see the progress. engineering, but to be honest, the passion was never that big.
Now they are closer to where they need to be.” “I started out wanting to be a teacher, then a doctor and
Booysen says she is also learning about what makes each of ended up being in engineering. But my heart just wants to be
her players tick and how to get the best out of them. with people.”

Making
Every Lap
Count
S
Swimming sensation OUTH AFRICAN SENSATION TATJANA I liked hockey, netball and
Schoenmaker dreamed of a career in netball athletics, so at that age I think
Tatjana Schoenmaker,
and was at first resistant to professional the push for swimming came
South Africa’s star at swimming, but after winning Olympic Gold from my parents’ side. They
the Tokyo Olympics in the 200m breaststroke in a world record time, has saw I had talent,” she tells
who won record- proven the old adage that you should always listen to FORBES AFRICA.
breaking gold in the your parents. “I was actually against it
200m breaststroke, is Schoenmaker was one of Africa’s stars at the in the beginning, I was never
Tokyo Olympics this year as she swept to gold in for it. But when I moved to
constantly challenging
a record time of 2:18.95, having also claimed silver Tuks Sport High School,
herself for the next in the 100m breaststroke as she came within a and more of my time went
milestone, she says in milli-second of a remarkable double. into swimming, I started
an exclusive interview It has cemented the 24-year-old’s place improving. That’s when I
with FORBES AFRICA. among South Africa’s swimming greats, but if started to realize that I’m good
her teenage self had her own way, Schoenmaker at it.
BY NICK SAID
would not have been in Tokyo to make her mark “It was certainly not a
in history. passion for me, definitely not.
“I did many other sports in primary school. I loved netball and my mind

FORBES AFRICA
SPORT | OLYMPIANS
Photo by Roger Sedres/Gallo Images/Getty Images; Photo by Mustafa Yalcin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
was so set on the fact I wanted to play that sport and I

didn’t like swimming.
“But as a 14-year-old, you don’t really know what
is best for you. That is why the support of my parents
was vital. They believed I had talent and Rocco [coach
It is hard, the amount Rocco Meiring] also believed I could do well.
of hours makes it very “I had to trust their judgement, even though I
argued against it a lot. I thought I knew everything! So
difficult. A lot of young that support from my family to push me… they knew
swimmers show amazing once I realized [my talent], it would go well.”
Realizing that talent took many, many hours in the
potential early on but pool, dedication and, in the end, an iron will to succeed.
then fade because the Many others have had similar talent, but not the drive
work you need to put in is that Schoenmaker has shown once she decided to make
a go of swimming.
grueling. “I am so grateful to them for pushing me out of my
comfort zone and what I thought was best for myself,”
she says.
“It is hard, the amount of hours makes it very

FORBES AFRICA
SPORT | OLYMPIANS
on a Saturday. Sunday is completely off.”

We lost a lot of training due to She admits too, that like many other athletes, the extra
year of training afforded by the postponement of the Tokyo
Covid-19, but because there were Games due to the Covid-19 pandemic actually helped her
so few competitions after the medal chances.
“We had six months to go ahead of the Games in 2020.
lockdowns, we were able to put in It was the January [2020], before the Covid-19 lockdowns
some really intense training and started. I was excited, but ‘scared’ nervous. I thought
catch up those weeks. It worked out to myself, ‘if only I had one more year to just really get
prepared’.
perfectly for me. “And then of course, it happened when the Games
were postponed. So the second time round when it came
to six months to go [in January 2021], now it was genuine
difficult. A lot of young swimmers show amazing potential excitement. It worked in my favor, I got that extra year.
early on but then fade because the work you need to put in “We lost a lot of training due to Covid-19, but because
is grueling. there were so few competitions after the lockdowns, we
“I am very passionate now about encouraging those were able to put in some really intense training and catch up
young swimmers and telling them they have to push those weeks. It worked out perfectly for me.”
through, because it gets so tough.” Many athletes speak of a post-Games depression,
She admits she was fortunate to attend a school where especially those that achieve their goals of winning gold.
sport is heavily blended with academics to help athletes After years, and sometimes decades, building up to that
reach their potential. moment, they can be left with an empty feeling of ‘what
“We were able to start school later in the morning to now?’.
accommodate our swimming. The school would work out That is not a problem for Schoenmaker.
how we could get our marks with the time that we had in “I have watched the movie with Michael Phelps about
class. I was very lucky to be part that. post-Games depression [The Weight of Gold]. It is the
“I felt like I could strike the balance and manage highest achievement you could ever get – a gold medal and a
both, it wasn’t that I felt I was under pressure with my world record.
schoolwork.” “But for me, it is not ‘what now?’. It is ‘when next?’. I
As for her lightbulb moment when she realized she want to race again and I want to try and improve myself.
could be an Olympian, it shows the importance of role There is so much space to grow.
models in sport in terms of allowing children to dream. “Whether I swim personal bests, or whether I grow
“It was in 2012, when I joined the school. That was the personally or spiritually… I have changed so much when
year of the London Olympics and I remember watching it I look back at who I was three years ago at my first major
in the hostel. competition. Winning at the Commonwealth Games [in
“Chad [Le Clos] beating Michael Phelps was incredible. 2018] – the person I was then and who I am now is totally
One, he was a South African, and two, I was doing the different.
same amount of training then as a professional like Chad “It is amazing for me that it all still feels like a dream, it doesn’t
at the school. seem real, and I am so excited to challenge myself in the next
“I went from three times a week to 10 or 11 sessions a galas. What can I do next to better myself in any way, not just my
week, so I thought, ‘my life has become swimming, so I swimming but as a person?”
can do this also’.” As for what is next, 2022 will be a big year for the South African
Schoenmaker says she loves routine and even today with both the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England,
trains in a similar fashion to how she did back then. and the World Championships in Fukuoka, which will be a return
“My training always stays consistent, the type of to Japan.
training changes a little bit, but I like consistency and my “I have the short-course World Championships [in Abu Dhabi]
programs are basically a lot of the same things. at the end of this year. That is a nice challenge because you have a
“It is about eight sessions of swimming and then two or lot more turns and my turns are probably my weakest part.
three sessions of gym [a week]. We have double-swim on “Then next year we have the Commonwealth Games and
a Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and single swim with World Championships, we never usually have those two in the
gym on a Tuesday and a Thursday, and then a single swim same season. But I am very excited for both,” she says.

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FORBES AFRICA
OPINION • THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Life Lessons From India’s

Timeless Literary Genius
1877, a 16-year-old Tagore took centerstage at the union. He reminded them that when the West
BY VANDINI SHARMA
Hindu Mela, a political and cultural festival in grew tired of pursuing perfection through its
The writer is a 19-year-old Calcutta. He read aloud his witty satire against hard labors, it would find rest in the spiritual
awarded, published Indian
writer. Her articles have the newly-crowned colonial head of India, and East that could rejuvenate one’s soul with her
appeared in 50+ global revitalized patriotic sentiment within the crowd. enduring peace and wisdom.
publications, including the His elder brother Jyoti was the person who Over time, even as many artists questioned
Associated Press, New York
Times and Hindustan Times. tutored him in poetry-writing and musical him for the source of his creative pioneering,
Her work can be found on rhyme. The young poet would work devotedly, Tagore maintained that his inspiration flowed
www.liftyou.in but would soon become disillusioned by his from a universal source beyond himself. He
abilities and often crossed out paperwork and believed in the ability to discover what one had
T
threw them away. His school mates mocked his to say, if one listened well enough.
HE INDIAN POET feminine sensibilities and poetic aptitude. As the world crumbled under the weight
Rabindranath However, Tagore went on to defy everyone’s of a World War, a free economy bound by
Tagore was the first apprehensions and achieve great literary fame. merit-based leadership still seemed far away
non-European to His intellectual diversity spanned leadership, in Tagore’s final days. With a deathless faith in
win a Nobel Prize in any category. globalization, promotion of the scientific spirit, the free will of humankind to propel success,
History books also cite that he and most famously, Bengali poetry and prose. Tagore wrote: “Faith is a bird that believes in
named Gandhi as ‘Mahatma’, People globally saw him as the voice of moral the light when the dawn is still dark.” Tagore
the lawyer-activist who spent awakening for a free nation. illuminated a global liberated consciousness,
21 years in South Africa. The As a young boy, he lost his mother. His even as the world was still on its journey
deeper Africa connection is adoring sister-in-law followed when he was a towards merit-based leadership and wealth
in Tagore’s poem, An Ode to little older. His father, who he so revered, also distribution. Today, this great poet is known
Africa, written in empathic passed on. Tagore’s beloved wife was next when throughout the world as India’s symbol of a
anguish for the ceaseless she passed away even before he reached middle liberated bird of dawn.
barbarism both Africa and age. Tagore also lost three of his five children to
India endured through lethal illnesses.
colonial rule. In those unimaginably dark times, Tagore
Photo via Getty Images/DE AGOSTINI PICTURE LIBRARY

Tagore once wrote a phrase devoted himself to writing meaningfully for
about liberty that ran thus: children and spun stories that gave solace to the
“We gain freedom when we soul. Spiritual truth flowed through his words
have paid the full price.” in this heart-breaking era of his life, and he
The personal story of the formed a deep, unbreakable connection with
poet is a reflection of this God.
thought. Tagore created a school for children in
Tagore’s story is Shantiniketan. He spent his days teaching
distinguished by a moral and being around the cheerful laughter of
power that persevered his new young friends. Also known as the
through the great pain of ‘Bard of Bengal’, he once wrote: “Every child
countless personal tragedies. It comes with the message that God is not yet
is the story of a man who saw discouraged of man.”
the extraordinary within the In 1913, when he won the Nobel Prize for
ordinary. literature, Tagore spoke to his award-ceremony Portrait of
Rabindranath
On a January morning in audience about a global thread of spiritual Tagore (1861-1941)

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FORBES AFRICA
OPINION • CLIMATE CRISIS
COP26 And The Debate

Africa Cannot Afford To Defer
place, with the objective to accelerate the goals is required to reduce emissions and curb the impact
of the Paris Agreement and the United Nations of climate change. This would entail shifting away
(UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change. from fossil fuels that place an increased burden on
BY TSHILIDZI MARWALA
Perhaps the major conversation that will emerge the planet, towards solar or wind power. Adaptation
The writer is the Vice- from all of this is how Africa can best be supported entails making changes in order to live with the
Chancellor and Principal of the and how best can the agenda be advanced to ensure impact of climate change. This includes initiatives
University of Johannesburg, that we do not lose sight of the debilitating impact of such as planting more trees and finding ways to
a member of the Namibia
4IR task force and author of climate change for the future. live with threats such as wildfires or floods, for
the book ‘Leadership Lessons It is no secret that Africa has been hardest hit by instance. Arguably, however, these are not mutually
From The Books I Have Read’. the effects of climate change in spite of the fact that exclusive endeavors and the sweet spot likely exists
it contributes less than 5% of the world’s greenhouse in a combination of mitigation and adaptation.
gas emissions. We are feeling the after-shocks of the Intriguingly, Africa, for all the brunt it has had to
rest of the world’s insufficient activity in relation to bear, has been quick to mitigation and adaptation.
sustainable development and climate change. According to the 2021 CDC ‘Emerging Economies
T
HIS YEAR HAS As the African Development Bank (AfDB) Climate Report’, by 2019, African countries were
brought with it asserts, this is because of the continent’s relatively already spending about 5% of their annual GDP
a renewed sense low adaptive capacity, because of financial and to support adaptation and mitigation initiatives,
of urgency for technological limitations, and an over-reliance on exceeding their contributions to climate change.
climate change. A host of rain-fed agriculture. This is a difficult pill to swallow In fact, most African states have explored some
reports released this year have when you consider that Africa also has a significant form of renewable energy. It is expected that African
indicated that the prognosis lag in access to electricity. Compounding the impact countries will soon have to spend about 15% of GDP
for the planet is rather grim. to Africa is the immense population growth. to respond to climate crises.
Last year, temperatures were According to data from the UN, one in four Given these dynamics, it is imperative that
around 1.02°C warmer. These people on this planet will be from Africa by 2050, COP26 does not serve as an exercise in exclusion.
extreme temperatures and its growing to one in three by 2100. This rapid growth The rest of the world has a lot to learn from
ramifications are being felt in population and the resulting urbanization, it is Africa and if we have any chance to emerge from
across Africa in addition to other apparent that the continent needs to be made a our economic quagmire, we need support from
countries. In October, it emerged priority. outside the continent in addition to rethinking
that Africa’s mountain glaciers The goals of combatting climate change while our own reverberating impact on climate change.
are melting so quickly that trying to grow the economy almost seem at odds This is not a debate that can be deferred as we
they’re likely to vanish within with each other. In fact, the International Monetary are facing the consequences daily and we are
the next 20 years. As Petteri Fund (IMF), estimates that sub-Saharan Africa witnessing the negative impact across the globe.
Taalas, the Secretary General has lost more than $520 million in direct economic What lessons can be learned and how we navigate
of the World Meteorological damages annually as a result of climate change since the future bearing in mind that our choices have
Organization, wrote: “The rapid the beginning of this century. the potential to wreak havoc for our countries.
shrinking of the last remaining Not only are our avenues for economic growth This is not a problem that is confined to a country
glaciers in eastern Africa, which adding to the impact of climate change, climate but is a global challenge. Every sector needs to
are expected to melt entirely change is also stunting our growth. Our over- reflect on how best contributions can be made
in the near future, signals reliance on fossil fuels and the growing of the to avert this crisis that is impending. It is not
the threat of imminent and economy has a profound impact on the negative the time for Africa to sleep but for us to awaken
irreversible change to the Earth consequences of climate change. to the challenges. As Ugandan climate change
system.” This is the context Centered around this damning outlook is the activist Vanessa Nakate wrote about the impact of
against which the COP26 debate around mitigation versus adaptation. The climate change, “In some way, therefore, we are
Summit in Glasgow has taken argument for mitigation is that human intervention all Africa.”

FORBES AFRICA
SOMETIME IN AFRICA
The Jungle Giant

A reflective trip to a hospital deep in the forests of Gabon started by the
late Nobel Peace Prize winner and polymath Dr Albert Schweitzer.
T
BY RAMDAS IYER
RAVELING BY RIVER BOAT ON THE MIGHTY

Ogooué River, I was excited to be making a pilgrimage to
the legendary hospital built by the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize Dr Albert
Schweitzer
winner and humanist, Dr Albert Schweitzer. Lambaréné,
my destination, was a good nine hours upriver from Port-Gentil,
the only coastal port in the forested nation that is Gabon.
Schweitzer was born into an Alsatian family in 1875. Music,
musicology, theology, philosophy, medicine, and community welfare
are all relevant fields to mention when discussing his personality.
On arriving at the hospital grounds which lie in a lush island in the
middle of the river, I was shown to my comfortable room in a block
built to receive volunteer doctors from around the world.
From the chicken coop from where the hospital started in 1913,
it is now a sprawling campus that treats over 30,000 patients each Port-Gentil, followed by 280km up the Ogooué River to Lambaréné. It is
year. Most of the old facilities which are over a century old have been said the arrival of a ‘white doctor’ was announced by drums, which could
preserved as part of a museum, including all the original operating be heard deep in the jungle.
rooms and dispensary. The former modest living quarters of the Here, Schweitzer started his first hospital from an old henhouse,
doctor and his wife are also preserved as a shrine. While on a tour which was quickly repaired, cleaned and covered with lime. It was
of the facility, I came across a small piano in Schweitzer’s bedroom the first modern hospital built to care for people in Gabon. Inside the
pointing to his proficiency also in the field of music. Schweitzer started now-preserved compound, I toured the first barrack which was put up
playing the organ when he was five, and by the age of eight was giving as a place for treating outpatients, for surgery, and as a pharmacy. Later,
public performances in churches; Schweitzer’s favorite composers other barracks were built, including some made of bamboo for local
were Wagner, Franck, and Johann Sebastian Bach. A musicologist as patients and their families. At the time, there were 50 beds in the hospital.
well as performer, a quick search online reveals that Schweitzer wrote Breslau helped her husband treat patients both as a nurse and as an
a biography of Bach in 1905 in French, published a book on organ anesthesiologist in surgery.
Photo by ADN/picture alliance via Getty Images; Photo by Ramdas Iyer

building and playing in 1906, and rewrote the Bach book in German in Fate struck within four years of their arrival as they were sent to a
1908. French internment camp as German prisoners of war in 1917. Released
In 1905, having already gained three doctorate degrees in theology, in 1918, Schweitzer spent time in Europe giving lectures and concerts,
music and philosophy and working as an associate professor, he took preaching in churches, taking medical courses and writing books.
up studying medicine. In 1913, he obtained his medical degree and Schweitzer returned to Lambaréné in 1924 where he stayed until
went through a further year’s training in Paris. Around the same his death. While in Europe, he rendered several organ concerts and
time, he met and married Helene Breslau, a nursing student. At 26, with the money earned, together with his personal appearance fees
he read about a growing need for medical help in Africa including and monies donated by his well-wishers from around the world, he
Gabon. This turned out to be his spiritual calling for Africa and he at expanded the hospital to 70 buildings which by the early 1960s could
first decided to work with missionaries in Gabon. Schweitzer started treat over 500 resident patients. A polymath, Schweitzer, in addition to
raising funds for his future hospital and began acquiring supplies to being a physician and surgeon, led his Christian congregation as pastor
run it. On March 26, 1913, having packed 70 cases with medicine and and supervised the sprawling village-hospital complex. As his popularity
other essential equipment, he left for Africa with his wife. grew, he played host to several visitors from around the world. This is
Having traveled the length and breadth of Gabon for over six evident from the many commendations he received from the likes of
weeks as recently as two years ago, I could not imagine the ordeal President Roosevelt and Queen Elizabeth that line the museum. He
the Schweitzers faced in Africa when they first arrived. An European used the prize money he received for the Nobel Peace Prize to start a
couple braving the equatorial climate, living with a multi-ethnic tribal leprosarium at Lambaréné.
society speaking over 42 languages and the constant threat of being a Schweitzer died in Gabon on September 4, 1965. My pilgrimage to
German citizen in French territory at the cusp of World War I, must this humanist’s jungle hospital ended with me kneeling in quiet awe and
have been daunting. They started their sea journey from Bordeaux to gratitude in front of his grave.

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